"It's a Claw Machine and I am Blind"

Whats good!?! This week went by pretty fast. One of the fastest weeks I've had in a while.

So short story about the title. Last night we were driving to get gas in the truck and my comp was complaining to me about a claw machine that he wants to play cause he has "never played one in his life" so I told him it was dumb and it's just a claw machine. Well right as I was saying that I went like 45 mph over a speed bump. It was comical. They call speed bumps in this country "policia acostao" which means police men laying down haha. Also they say "Acostao" instead of the correct Spanish word "Acostado" because they are Dominican. Anyways fun story for ya’ll. 

We've been teaching a ton in our area and are hoping to see some success soon! A few of our main focuses rn are our friends Keila and Albiero. 

Keila is the daughter of Benilda. Our friend who was baptized last Saturday. Keila has 2 kids and lives with her bf. She has come to church 3 straight weeks and is so open to learning. Her Visa was rejected a week ago, which we took that as a dub because now we can hopefully help her progress towards baptism. She is hard to teach cause she almost never has time. Pray for her so we can find time to teach her! 

Albiero is the little brother of our recent convert Smeily. He is 9 years old and wants to be baptized so bad because his sister was. He has a baptismal date for Feb 10th but we will see what happens. We want to help him understand why baptism is important and not just get baptized to be baptized. I mean I don't know how much I knew when I was 8 and I think I turned out decent lol. 

I have loved my studies this week. I have learned a lot about different things and the spirit world being one of them. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and the joy it brings to us. 

Another cool thing from this week came from my old area In Bonao. For those who remember we used to teach this lady named Luna in Bonao. She is AMAZING! Well the Elders texted me on Thursday telling me that she and her bf are planning on maybe getting married on the 1st of March. They said if Elder Wilde can come to the wedding then they will for sure get married. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to go but I hope they can get married so she can be baptized. Pray for Luna! It made me feel happy that they wanted me to be there and reminded me of a cool story about my Grandpa Johnson. There was a man who was being taught by missionaries in Washington. He told the Elders he would only be baptized if Floyd Johnson baptized him. Luckily my Grandpa Johnson made the trip out to Washington to baptize him. Maybe I can make a trip to Bonao and witness a wedding and baptism;) 

Anyways hope ya’ll have a great week! Love you guys and miss ya’ll tons! 

Elder Wilde 

*Oh and fun fact. We were driving in one of my old areas and I looked over just in time to see Christopher Morel!!! He is currently a player for the Chicago Cubs, which we are huge fans of! So I had to pull over and go and talk with him. It was super cool! I wish I could have stayed and talked to him longer, but we had other things we had to do.  

Working, working, and working.

Hello everyone! This week has been a straight grind, but it has been worth it.

Today at 6:30 our friend Benilda is going to be baptized! We are so excited for her and that she has been able to overcome all of her challenges. Last night when we were at her house she mentioned how she has had 4 baptismal dates over the last 10 years and finally she is going to actually be baptized. The Lord has prepared her for this day and we are so happy for her. 

We have focused a lot in our area this week. With a million things to do in the office we have found that working hard in our area brings us happiness and relief. Sounds weird I know but the cure to all things on the mission is work. So we love it. 

I've been studying in the middle part of Alma this week and those chapters are incredible! In Alma 36-42 Alma gives amazing council to his sons that can also apply to us in todays day. I love the Book of Mormon for that reason. 

We had a cool conversation with President 2 days ago about missionaries and trying to baptize people too fast. He said that the first principle in the Gospel is faith. After we have faith we decide to repent. He said that too many missionaries skip the faith part and the repentance part and then their investigators don't wanna be baptized cause they have NO faith. He then mentioned that the people who get baptized fast are the ones who had faith to begin with, which end up being the elect. So this week we have focused so much more on the principle of faith and trying to teach our friends what that truly means. 

I am grateful for a Savior who atoned for my sins and suffered for all of my pains. I am grateful to have scriptures that help grow my faith in him. 

Love you all! 

Elder Wilde. 

Zone Conference and a Miracle

Hey everyone! This week was a super busy one and we found so much time to teach in our area which was a miracle.

This week was Zone Conference week which is always fun. Not gonna lie, it is kind of a grind to sit through 3 different Zone Conferences. President basically teaches the exact same thing to all the Zones and tells the same stories for the most part, so I get pretty bored to be honest. But in the end I always leave having learned something new. 

On Sunday we went to church and thought that we had 0 friends come. Well after Sacrament meeting we decided to talk to 3 people who we saw, but know aren't members. Contacted all 3 and one of them is named Benilda. She is truly an amazing women. I am guessing she is in her 60’s, but to be honest I am not 100% sure. Benilda is the mom of one of the members and has been getting to know the church for 10 years. We had our first lesson with her on Wednesday and it was powerful. We were on our way to get water for some sisters who don't have water in the house and we decided to stop by Benilda’s first to teach her and then go get the water. I am so happy we did. 

The first thing she said to us was "Ya me quiero bautizar" which basically means she's done with going to church as a non member and wants to be baptized already. She told us she has a few problems that she wants to overcome and one of them is smoking. She knows that she can't smoke and is giving her best effort to completely stop. We extended a baptismal invitation for the 20th of January and she accepted. 

Thursday we had our 2nd lesson with her. It was so powerful. We shared about the Book of Mormon and then talked about Moroni 6:1-3 and how we need to be repented of all of our sins before we enter the waters of Baptism. When I invited her to "dejar de fumar definitivamente" (stop smoking completely) she started to cry and said that she will stop. She then shared with us how she went to the bathroom in the morning and took 2 smokes (or however you'd say that) and then she stopped and knew she shouldn't be doing that. She then showered and got ready and when she came out she saw the Book of Mormon on the floor opened. She told us that "Jesus Christ is here helping me." Benilda is wonderful! 

She needs LOTS of prayers from you guys. I know the atonement is real. I have experienced the power of it in my life and I am so happy that Benilda is trying to allow it to work miracles in her life. Pray for her so she can resist temptation and be baptized next Saturday. 

I love this Gospel. Everyday I have doubts and everyday God puts certain things in my path to help me overcome the doubts. I know Jesus Christ lives and that Heavenly Father’s Plan is real and perfect. We may not comprehend it all right now, but God doesn't ask us to do that. Have a good week everyone!

Elder Wilde

"Pero esta cara tan bonita"

Hey everyone hope you're all doing well! This week felt like it lasted an eternity, but in the end looking back it was a great week! 

Last week my email was real short and I am sure you weren't to happy about it Mom ;) So this week I decided to make it a little better! 

First of all I can't believe we have made it to 2024! That is wild! 2023 was a year spent serving and I will never regret it. To kick off the year 2024 we ate dinner at a members home who has a family full of non members. It was probably the funniest night of my entire life. Soriel (the member) has a father who is normally not very kind to us. He isn't rude, but he just doesn't care to talk to us. Well on December 31st he was a little drunk and the dude was having A BLAST! He didn't stop talking for 2 straight hours. Part of the conversation was him telling us how he met his wife. She was walking by him and he saw her and thought to himself "pero wow esta cara tan bonita" which means "but wow this pretty face". So he decided to follow her to a colmado while she bought Plantains, the most Dominican thing ever haha. He later explained to us that he had a GF at the time but he didn't care cause she was in Florida. The whole night was a movie and so fun. To end the night he begged us to stay until 12 but we explained we can't and he felt pretty down about that. Anyways a really fun night. 

A highlight from this week is a guy we contacted named Johnathen. A few weeks back we were walking home and some guy was knocking on a door to be opened. It was his business and he got locked inside and needed someone to open the door from the outside. I personally thought he looked crazy, but my comp said we needed to help him. So we did and then that was it. We went on our way. Well about a week later we were walking home again at night and some mini van was following us for a second. I thought it was weird and told my comp we should walk faster. My comp decided to stop and see who it was. SAME GUY! We said hi and then went on with our night. Well 2 nights ago we got home and decided to go visit a friend of ours named Mileidy. As I said the prayer to leave this guys face popped into my head. We decided to go find him. We found him and learned that his name is Johnathen. We had a great first contact and talked about what we do as missionaries and how we would love to help him get to know his Savior Jesus Christ. I am super excited to keep teaching him and I hope he can progress. If you could all pray for Johnathen Rodríguez that would be great. 

Overall it was a great week. Hope you guys are all doing well! Keep reading the Book of Mormon especially this year with the Come Follow Me:) Love you all! 

Elder Wilde 

6 More Weeks

Hey Everyone! 

I hope ya’ll are doing great! This week we had transfers and I am staying in the office for 6 more weeks. By then I will have been here for 6 months! Time flies. 

To be honest this week passed so fast and there weren't many crazy/cool things that happened so this email is gonna be short. 

We were very busy trying to get stuff done this week before transfers happened. We received 10 new missionaries and they all seem like they will do great things! 

We didn't have much time to study this week which was rough, but I did find that any time I was able to read in the Book of Mormon I felt immediate peace. I love the scriptures so much and I am so grateful for all they do for us. 

As the new year ends I am looking back at 2023 and can't believe it has all been spent as a missionary here in the DR. This has for sure been one of the hardest, longest, shortest, most rewarding years of my life. I am beyond excited to see what the next 7 months have in store. I love and miss you all! 

Elder Wilde 

Some People Change

So as I was sitting here thinking of an email title I just started to say the name of Kenny Chesney songs. “Some People Change” was the song I picked for my title. Sadly this week that meant people changing for the worse:( 

Our friend Dariel and most progressing investigator told us last night that he is tired of coming to church and just doesn't wanna meet with us anymore. He said he wants to be friends, but he just doesn't feel like doing the church thing. It was sad, but I know God has a plan for him. As I think of how much he has changed since we met him a few months ago I realize that even though he isn't baptized (yet) Jesus Christ still had an influence on his life for the better. 

Christmas time on the mission is weird. My emotions just go crazy lol. Some days I am like "yeah I could miss Christmas every year it isn't even that bad" and other days I am like "wow I wanna go home right now" so basically I'm crazy. Haha kidding. But for real Christmas is amazing because of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

We had a Christmas activity this week for the mission. It was split up into 2 different days for half of the mission one day, and the other half the next day. A perk of being in the office is that we got to go to both. President Bretón talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I have never felt the spirit so strong before. That was one of the moments when I thought "I could miss Christmas every year". 

As time goes on I realize how short 2 years really is. I'll be home in about 7 months and I can't believe it. I know that's still a hot minute, but truly time is quick. Even though Some days are harder than others, I wouldn't trade the mission experience for anything. 

I want to share a story that I read in a book that my companion has. It's called "I knelt to Pray" by Sterling W. Sill. 

I knelt to pray as day began

And prayed "O God, bless every man.

Lift from each weary heart some pain

And let the sick be well again."

And then I rose to meet the day

And thoughtlessly went on my way;

I didn't try to dry a tear 

Or take the time a grief to hear.

I took no steps to ease the load

Of hard-pressed travelers on the road;

I didn't even go to see 

The sick friend who lives next door to me.

But then again when day was done

I prayed, "O God, bless everyone." 

But as I prayed a voice rang clear

Instructing me to think and hear. 

"Consult your own heart ere you pray;

What good have you performed today?

Gods choicest blessings are bestowed 

On those who help him bear the load."

And then I hid my face and cried,

"Forgive me, Lord, for I have lied.

Let me live another day

And I will live it as I pray."

I really love this story. It made me stop and think about how I pray. I hope you could all learn something from this story. Prayer is a powerful thing. I know that it is a tool that God has given us. If we use it correctly we will be an instrument in the Lords hand. 

I love and miss you all! I hope you have a Merry Christmas! Don't forget the reason of the season:) 

Elder Wilde