Office Elder [Technology] PRAY FOR ME!!!

Hey guys so WOW what a freaking week! Thursday night we got our transfer news. I was shocked to say the least. I am here in Santiago with the housing and mail Elders. So I will be the mail Elder which is also the technology Elder. I will have a lot of responsibilities with not a lot of knowledge lol. 

So let me tell you a little bit about what I do. First things first we work in the mission office daily. We have Monday meetings with President Breton and the APs. We get to drive a truck!!! Wahoo been missing MY beautiful Red truck at home...@Dad. When we have Zone Conference I am in charge of setting up the microphones and the sideshows and the apple TV and the WiFi and alllll the technology stuff that I don't know anything about haha so pray for me please. I will also get to pick up packages and send mail for the missionaries. I work with the housing Elder so when he has to drive to fix a washer or fridge or move someone I will be doing that with him. Basically I will work as a normal missionary for very little time during the week. We went from having goals of finding 25 people in a week, to finding 7 or 8 in a week. It's a HUGE change, but it’s gonna help me learn so many things. 

One thing I also get to do is see all of the brand new missionaries and welcome them to the mission the day they get here. I also get to take the old missionaries to the airport and say goodbye. That part is gonna be hard for me. But I am so excited for what's ahead. 

My comps right now are Elder Anderson and Elder Crookston. They are so cool! My next comp next week will be a different Elder Anderson so we will be a quad with 2 Elder Andersons. It will be good. I am excited to learn and grow. 

I was so nervous to get the call but yesterday President said to me "Elder Wilde you don't know a lot about technology, but the Lord needs you to learn now." That was really cool to hear from him and it helped me a lot! 

Love y’all! Have a good week. PDAY is on SATURDAY for me now! 

Elder Wilde

Miracle of Vladimir!

Hey! This week was a super good week! Time is going by real fast. 

First things first the miracle of the week. Last Saturday we were supposed to baptize our friend Vladimir. We had the baptism planned and members came and water was filled and he didn't show up. He said he wasn't prepared. We moved it to this past Saturday. We said that we were gonna start at 6 and he wasn't there. The Sisters in our branch had a baptism and he was there so we started and did his baptism. At about 7:15 I got a call from Vladimir asking if there was still time for him to come and get baptized. I said yes. Well the thing is the water was draining in this moment so the wife of our Branch President got in the water with her dress and put the drain back in! Vladimir was baptized and confirmed! We had said so many prayers and I can say that God is truly in all the details. 

Other then the baptism we put 2 more people on date this week! Juan and Marieloud. Marieloud is Haitian and she doesn't speak Spanish so my comp teaches her in Creole and I don't understand any of the lesson. She came to church yesterday and loved it and is progressing a lot! The other guy Juan is a legend. He works until 4 in the morning every day so coming to church is a huge sacrifice. He has been 2 times now and he is excited to keep coming. He is also preparing for baptism. 

This week in my personal study I learned a lot about relying on God through prayer. I also learned that when we receive what we are waiting for we should always remember to give thanks for that thing. I love prayer! 

Hope you all have a good week! 

-Elder Wilde 

Tough

What's up?! This week was a pretty hard week. But Sunday made up for it cause we had 7 investigators come to church. I officially have over a year on the mission which is super nice. But let’s get into the week! 

So first things first Vladimir. He didn't get baptized on Saturday. We went to his house in the afternoon and he told us he wasn't prepared. We talked for an hour and he just wouldn't budge. We got on our knees and said a prayer with him and he still said no. But he came to church the next day on Sunday which is progress. He says he will get baptized this coming  Saturday but we need a lot of prayers from you guys for him! 

We are teaching a guy named Juan as well. He is the goat. He was a reference from Social media and truly wants to change his life around. He has come to church 2 weeks in a row after the first invitation. We are slowly working with him and last week on Friday I had one of the most spirit filled lessons of my mission. I was reciting the first vision and it was a huge confirmation for me that Joseph Smith was 100% a prophet of God. 

The mission is a good time. We had interviews with President. It was the same old thing. Asked how I was and then said good job keep working and it lasted about 3 mins lol. President is a good dude. 

Fall on the mish is the best and worst. People start school and I think ''Haha they have to go to school'' and then I remember that they also get to golf and watch football every Saturday and Sunday. So L for me. But not really. The mission is a huge blessing. 

Love you all! Have a good week! 

Elder Wilde

1 Year!

Well to be honest it still feels like I have 2 years left on the mission. But hitting my year tomorrow will be good! I have come to love the mission so much this past year and realize that all it is doing is helping me in life. Spanish isn't my rival anymore and the streets don't seem so sketchy. Love all that I have learned this past year and can't wait for 1 more year of growth! 

This week was a super good week! We had a lot of success and 7 investigators came to church yesterday. One of them being our good friend Vladimir. So let me tell ya'll about Vladimir. He is 27 and lives in this super dope place surrounded by trees and plants and lives in a wooden shack with his dad. He has sun glasses that he wears and I am yet to see his eyes even after 3 weeks of teaching him, and no he doesn't have a problem with his vision he is just shy. But yes, he is going to get baptized this week. He said he is feeling ready so keep praying for him to have good feelings about his baptism this Saturday. We had a lesson with him yesterday and he has a goose that lives at his house and it scares me. My comp is also not a fan but we lived. It was hissing and trying to come at me and I was sweating so bad and Vladimir was laughing. It was a good time. 

We got a reference on Friday. It is a guy named Juan. He is so cool. He is in his 50's and lives with him mom. He told us he wants to organize his life and that is why he wants to investigate the church. We went to his house on Saturday and his mom is the most Catholic lady ever. So unfortunate. But Juan is the most not catholic guy ever. So awesome. He came to church yesterday. He loved it. We are meeting with Juan on Saturday and gonna try to invite him to be baptized. Pray for him. 

I read something really cool that President Monson said. He said ''I always want the Lord to know that if he needs an errand run, Tom Monson will run that errand for him.'' I think this is something amazing and inspiring. I hope we can all have that same desire and show the lord that we are willing to do whatever errand he has in-store for us. 

The Church is true. Satan is real. Read the Book of Mormon to avoid this dude. Love you all so much. See ya in a year;)

Elder Wilde

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