If This is the Last Time

 

• Hello everyone! 
• Well I had to use a LANY song as the title for this email because it is the last one! So weird I am actually at this point. I have had 17 companions, 6 areas, 2 missions, and most importantly the 2 best years of my life. Throughout this transfer I have had the opportunity to reflect on my experiences in my mission and tie together everything that has happened. I want to share a few things that I have learned. 
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• God is in the details.
  As you all know I spent the first 6 months of my mission here in Mexico, was sent home due to covid and was later reassigned to Gilbert, Arizona for about 10 months, and I finished my last 6 months in Mexico. If any of you were with me before I left for Gilbert you know that I was not excited to be in a different mission and I honestly did not want to go back on reassignment. As I have had the time to reflect on my mission I have noticed that Gilbert was the best thing for me. I was able to meet amazing people but most importantly that is where I came to know who Jesus Christ is. 
  
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  The Book of Mormon is true. 
  From reading these emails you all know that I am always talking about how much I love this book! I have read the Book of Mormon 9 times on my mission and every time I read, the spirit confirms that it is true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. This book will change the life of whoever reads it. Without the Book of Mormon in my life I would not have the testimony of Jesus Christ that I have now. 
  
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  Christ's Atonement is for everyone. 
  I LOVE Christ's Atonement. Everyday I reflect on His sacrifice for me. Testifying of Jesus Christ every day allows me to constantly think of all that He has done. I love studying about all that He did for me. I have had a lot of challenges in my mission and each one has helped me draw closer to my Savior. 
  
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  ¨Never did fall away¨
  This has been my go to scripture in the mission. My favorite story is the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. I love the story of their conversion and how they never did fall away. When I was in the MTC, Elder Shayne M. Bowen came to speak to us. He told all of us to make a promise that we will NEVER go inactive. That hit me and so I made the promise that I will never do so. As I have taught people I have met true converts. Every person that I have taught and helped progress towards a baptism has strengthened my testimony to help me ¨never fall away¨. 
  
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  I could go on and on about my mission but I won't do that because I am pretty sure you don't want to read the 8th Harry Potter book in this email haha. I hope all of you can read this and understand how life changing the mission has been for me. I am so grateful for all of the people that I met. I truly love the people in Mexico and Arizona so much. This is the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus lives and He is our Savior. 
  
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  Love you all! See you next week! 
  
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  Elder Wilde 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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Elder Gong

Hello everyone! 

Not too much that happened this week except for divisions and a devotional with Elder Gong which was awesome! 

I'll start off with divisions. I went to an area called Tenosique and was with Elder Holmes and Barnum. They are both from Utah and it was a good time. They don't have too much time here so it was fun to help them with their Spanish and teach them a few things. We had a lot of bomb lessons and just had a blast in general. It was kind of nice being in a different area for the day. 

The coolest part of the week was Elder Gong's devotional. Sadly, covid didn't allow him to be here in person but we were still lucky to have a zoom call with him. With him was Elder Teixeira of the seventy and Elder Montuya of the Mexico area presidency. There were so many solid messages and I learned lots of great things. 

I think the biggest take away I had was when Elder Teixeria mentioned how he was a convert and then Elder Gong said from that missionaries 1 convert there were hundreds of people brought to the truth. That made me think back to my convert out in Minatitlán, Isaí. He is such a solid convert and a huge member missionary and I know he will definitely be an impact on the lives of many people. 

Love you all!

Elder Wilde 

Make Balancán Great Again

Hello there everyone! 

So honestly this week was boring and kind of tough. We started off traveling everywhere because my companion needed to get his green card and then throughout the week when we were back in the area, literally every lesson fell. At the start of the week we had 6 people on date and now we have 0... that hurt. 

I could write this whole email about negatives but I'm not gonna do that because nobody likes negativity. Instead I'll focus on the positives. The last 2 weeks we haven't had any leaders show up to church so I have done the conducting and kind of ran the show, who knows maybe I'm being prepared to be a Bishop haha. Well after sacrament meeting we had Sunday school and nobody came prepared with a lesson so who got to give the lesson? That would be us. We shared a bomb missionary lesson and got the branch pumped about missionary work so that was a huge positive! 

With all of the down time this week I've had the opportunity to study a lot and listen do some good talks. I've also been able to study the Book of Mormon a lot. I love that book. I have been able to reflect on my mission recently and without the Book of Mormon in my life, my life wouldn't be as great as it is. 

That's all I've got for today, love you all!

Elder Wilde 

Last Zone Conference

Hello everyone! 

This week we had a zone conference so we traveled to Villahermosa on Thursday and left on Saturday. Other than that, it was just a normal week. 

Zone conference was so good! It was really weird thinking that it was my last one and honestly it was kind of sad to think that. I was able to share my going away testimony and that was a fun experience. I have learned to love speaking in sacrament meetings and sharing my testimony throughout my mission, but I got a little nervous for this one. I got nervous because I have thought about this my whole mission. I went up and just spoke from the heart and I mainly focused on the conversion I have seen in my mission, whether it be myself or other people. The spirit was super strong and it was fun to experience it with some of the Elders I started my mission with. 

The work here is coming along. We consistently find people but the hard thing is getting people to come to church. This has been my problem for my whole mission and I am hoping I can figure it out these last few weeks haha. We have been doing lots of facebook finding and it has worked pretty well. Basically all we do is search someone's name, for example ¨Juan¨. You would not believe how many Juan's live in Balancán. We add all of them as friends and then send them messages seeing if they want to learn. I would say about 50% answer and out of that we find a few who could be solid. 

To wrap up, I wanted to share a quick testimony about the Priesthood. Saturday night I woke up with the worst stomach pain ever and after about an hour of trying to get rid of it, I woke up my companion to give me a blessing. Him being the nice person he is, got out of bed to do it. Right when he started the blessing I felt the spirit and after he said amen I started feeling a little better. It didn't go away immediately but just enough so I wasn't in too much pain. It was a cool experience and I am grateful for my companion who was worthy to use the priesthood at any given moment. 

Love you all! 

Elder Wilde  

Our first transfer in Mexico

Our last transfer in Mexico

Maestro Wilde

Sup my dudes! 

This week was super weird with transfers and everything and it felt pretty long but here we are and I don't even remember most of the stuff that happened. I'll start off by talking about my new companion. 

His name is Elder Nuffer (new-fur), don't pronounce it like you read it because that's what I did when I first met him and it isn't right haha. He is a super nice kid and we get along great. He is from Rigby, Idaho and is fresh out of the home MTC. It has been fun being with such a new missionary because seeing the culture shock hit someone just like it hit me is entertaining. I have gotten used to living in a house full of spiders and stuff but he is terrified of them! 

The week was good as far as work goes. We were able to find some more people and put a couple more on date but the only problem is nobody ever wants to go to church so that is rough. We have had some solid contacts and believe it or not, I started to work on facebook for the first time in my whole mission. As of now we have had no success but it will come eventually... at least I hope. 

It was a little weird at first adjusting to having a companion who speaks no Spanish but overall I have enjoyed it. Literally all of the stuff that has happened with him happened with me my first couple of weeks in the mission. It has been fun teaching him the language and I am loving his greenie energy straight from the MTC. 

I think the spiritual thought for the week is the power of prayer. Last transfer we weren't the best at praying as a companionship when we left and got back to the house. My goal this transfer has been to do it everyday and so far we have done so. I have noticed that as we pray we find people to teach... who would've thought?? Prayer is such a simple thing that can lead to miracles! 

Love you all! 

Elder Wilde 

Hijo #5

Hello there my friends! 

Had a nice last week of the transfer and got our transfer news... I'll be training for my last transfer so I'm pumped about that! This will be my 5th time training so hopefully I've got it down by now haha. I still don't know who it is and I'll meet him on Wednesday. It's kinda crazy I'm starting my last transfer so I'm ready to get on the grind and finish strong!

So this week we picked up 20 peeps to teach and I'd say about 15 are pretty solid. We were able to go to a rehab place for alcoholics and drug addicts and it was cool to see a bunch of dudes in there who are trying to change their life. We were able to teach from the Book of Mormon and explained the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We explained what Amulek explains of how Christ will come to save us from our sins but not in them. We talked about how we will all sin and Christ won't prevent us from doing it because of our agency. It was cool to see their desires to learn more and change. Overall it was one of my favorite lessons I've been a part of. 

We also put a couple of people on date this week and they are all pretty solid but the tough thing is their families are super catholic and that is usually a challenge. For some reason they just don't like us sometimes and idk why because we are so nice to them. Like they all have a store and sell gross food but I'm Christlike and buy it from them. 

Something I thought about this last week was being an example. Considering I've been training the last 3 transfers I have thought about it a lot. One thing I didn't notice is how much of an impact we make on the people we teach, especially the kids. At church yesterday we talked about as priesthood holders we need to always be examples of Christ because we never know who is watching. It makes me think of Christ himself who was an example to everyone all of the time. 

Love you all! 

Elder Wilde 

Here are some pictures from last weeks visit to Palenque