The Church is True

Transfer week! So I am staying in Libertad and I have a new companion. His name is Elder Hunter and he is a homie! He was just a zone leader and is a hard worker! The church is true my dudes. Elder Montes got a new companion. His name is Elder Perez and he is from the Dominican Republic and he likes baseball so.... my life is good, really good. 

I'm gonna start with a funny story. This week we went to a members house, his name is Daniel. He just moved here from Villahermosa and is a good dude. He was talking to me and I was understanding everything. He then said something that I didn't understand, so I asked him to repeat it. He then said, in perfect English. "I am from the United States and speak English, I just wanted to see how much Spanish you spoke." What the freak dude that caught me off guard! Anyways, the dude hooks it up fat with food and stuff. Really good guy. 

I'm not sure if you guys remember Omar (investigator from soccer activity). This week we taught the first lesson to him and his cousin, Arturo. The lesson was so good! I basically taught it by myself so that was fun haha. When we gave him the Book of Mormon I explained a little about Jesus Christ visiting the Americas and he was so interested in that! With a big smile on his face he said he was gonna read 3 Nephi 11 and then pray about it! Lets just say these last few weeks were a little slow for me, but when I saw the joy in Omar, I was so happy. We are going to return this week and I am praying that he continues to progress. 

 This letter is short because this week was a little slow. Love you all!

Elder Wilde 

The new Crew! Me, Elder Hunter, Elder Montes, and Elder Perez

Me and Daniel

Roping is a lot harder than it looks. I sucked at it!

 Arturo trying to teach me how to rope

Chillin' with Omar

One of the Elders gave me this coconut. He knew how much I love baseball! 

I'm the Captain Now

Hello everybody! This week was awesome! I took charge and called the shots this week. I was sick of reporting 0's every week haha. Well, we found 18 new people so I think it was pretty successful. Lots of really cool experiences too so get ready!

We will start off with divisions on Wednesday with Elder Garff. He is the President's Assistant and is such a homie! With him we found 8 new people and it was awesome. It is always nice to have someone to talk to. He stayed the night with us and we may or may not have been up until 2 talking haha. He is a really good dude and taught me lots of things. 

The next day, I had 2 really cool experiences. The first was in a combi (mini bus). Because I was tired from the night before I used this as an opportunity to take a 10 minute nap. Well during my "nap" I heard the little voice everyone knows (the spirit). All I heard was "speak". Well my first thought was, "no Carter, you don't know Spanish." Well then again, "speak". I started to get nervous and I opened my eyes and looked around. I saw on my left a guy reading the Bible on his phone and in front of me was his wife and their baby. Again, "speak" and I knew I would regret this opportunity so I spoke. I talked to the guy and wife for about 3 minutes before we had to get off for an appointment. I understood everything and was able to share why I am here in Mexico and then a short testimony. Didn't get his name or number but when I got out of the combi I felt like I did everything I needed to do. 

That same night we visited a dad and son who are inactive. 2 more people walked out and were about to leave. Well, you can always count on the spirit to help you out. "speak". This time I didn't hesitate and started talking. So it turns out, I can speak Spanish. Like it's not good but they understand me and I understand them. I was able to find the common interest with him and it was baseball. Of course he was a Dodgers fan so I was teasing that they couldn't beat the Cubs. As I got the friendship going then I was a missionary. I told him about us and then set up an appointment. (we were gonna visit yesterday but he wasn't home so we are going back tomorrow). 

Now this experience happened Saturday and it might be my favorite. I don't know if you guys remember David from my last email. Anyways, we had gone by his house almost every day last week trying to teach him but there is always and excuse on why they can't. We had the thought of giving up, then I remembered that mama didn't raise a quitter. We stopped by and they let us in. We taught the first lesson and holy crap the church is true. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. His grandpa had a few doubts about the Book of Mormon. Well, I bet you can't guess what happened next... the holy ghost. I talked... and my Spanish was almost perfect. I honestly don't remember what I said but I remember saying something like this; "You might wonder why a tall white boy keeps coming to your house, well here is the answer. I left my home in Utah to come and share the Gospel with the people in Mexico because I know our message is true. I am learning this language and am constantly coming by your house because I love you." Well I made tears come out of their faces. We asked David to say the closing prayer and he couldn't finish because he broke into tears. Well that made me cry too... I'm such a softy. 

None of them came to church. If you look at the numbers for our week and see that we had no investigators at church you could think it was a crappy week again. It wasn't. Best week of my life I'll tell ya that. 

Love you all so much!

Elder Wilde 

Drank my first coconut water. It was weird, but not bad.

Me and Elder Garff. He looks pretty fresh in my Cubs gear.

At my desk studying

Interviews with the President. Elder Lopez (top left) Elder Montes (top right) Elder Cicerone (bottom left) Elder Wilde (bottom middle) Elder Fogg (bottom right)

Bus ride home from interviews. Elder Montes snoozing.

Super Dead

Hello everyone! This week was a slow one and there isn't too much to talk about. We visited a lot of inactive families and most of our appointments fell through. Only a couple things happened. 

This week we attended a funeral. I don't know if funerals are weird here or if it is just the family but it was like a 3 day process. They love when the white guy talks so I gave like 3 different talks about the plan of salvation so that was pretty sweet. The thing that was scary was it was in their house and behind me was his dead body. He was super dead. (not funny but had to quote Hot Rod). Anyways, I noticed that as I started to talk the words would just flow out of my mouth and I didn't need to worry about my Spanish. The spirit was so strong and it was awesome!

I had another cool experience on Friday. We visited a few inactive families and one of the families we visited I was able to share a message with them. My comp was with the little girl at the table and I decided to share something with the mom. I asked her which story in the Book of Mormon was her favorite. I could tell that she wasn't too familiar with the book because she replied "Lehi and the gold plates". I went on to explain how much I love the story of Nephi and his family. I said how much I love his obedience and faith. I invited her to read the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon with her family and then attend church on Sunday... and she did exactly that. She came to church with her daughter and it was awesome! She told me her goal for the new year is to teach her little girl more about the Gospel and it made me so happy! 

Saturday has become a tradition to play soccer. We invite everyone who we see. We found 2 kids named David (12) and Omar (14). We played for a good 45 minutes in the rain. It seemed like every 5 minutes a group would show up and in the end we had like 30 youth there! Omar asked me what happens at the church and I explained to him what we do, what we believe, and so on. He then asked what it takes to be a missionary. I had one of the members explain a little bit about that then I finished it off. I invited both of them to church and they said they'd come... but they didn't. Well that didn't work.

One of the families in the ward literally has a party every day so we end up there for dinner most of the time. Because my Spanish is at the level of a 2 year old, I spend my time with the 2 year olds. I just throw a ball around or play with their toys with them. Ya know, anything to please the rugrats. One of the little boys called me "Papí" so that was probably the highlight of the week. 

That is it my dudes. Sorry for the Hot Rod quotes haha. Love you all!

Elder Wilde 

Soccer in the pouring rain!

Me and Elder Lopez

My cool speaker that I just bought.

You ball bro?

Hello and Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe New Year's and has a great 2020! 

This week, just like every other week had its ups and downs. The highlight of my week lasted about 30 seconds and I have thought of it a lot this week. We were walking down the street and someone yelled at me saying, "do you speak English?". Well this happens at least 5 times a day and so I always reply to them in Spanish saying I am from somewhere in Mexico and it is a great reaction. Well this time after I said I was from Oaxaca, he said, "my cousin said you speak English so I wanted to talk, I am from Detroit. You ball bro?". So I immediately ran over to his car and talked for a second.  I invited him to come play fútbol with us that night but before I could catch his name the driver drove off because there were cars behind them. I was praying so hard that he would show up but he didn't. I kept thinking about what I could have done different to help him out. As I continued to pray asking for another chance with him, I had a thought pop into my head saying I did enough. All I did was introduced who I was and why I am here in Macuspana. It may not seem like much but I was able to get him thinking about the church. I am hoping that I run into him again and that he will say something to me! It won't be that hard to find me because I am a tall white boy with a shirt and tie. 

The next day we did divisions with the Zone Leaders and it was awesome! Elder Haines came with Elder Oliveira and I and it was a great day full of work. We found 5 new people that we are going to try to start teaching. Elder Haines is the best missionary I have ever seen. He can talk to anybody and be their friend just like that. He is a great example to me and is a great example of a true disciple of Christ. As the day went on we ended up teaching a lesson to our investigator Daniel. We taught about the commandments and it was a good lesson. Elder Haines covered almost all of the topics then when it got to the law of chastity he said, "Elder Wilde would like to explain this now". Well teaching this to people is already difficult and could be a little awkward (especially when it is to a 23 and 15 year old) but doing it in Spanish is even worse! Haha, lets just say it was a fun experience. They didn't seem too excited about this because they didn't wanna change their lifestyle so we are going to try to work with them on this! 

I think the biggest thing I learned this week is that everything happens for a reason. There are times where I find myself asking God why I am in the current situation I am in or why things are tough. I may not see it at the moment but I know I will look back someday and see why certain things are happening. I was reading in Mosiah this week and one of the chapter headings says something like, "the Lord makes their burdens seem light". I love this. The Lord isn't going to take away our burdens, but he will definitely be there with us to carry what we can't and make them "seem light". 

New year. New "Come Follow Me". What makes it even better is it is on the Book of Mormon! If you guys haven't noticed, I kinda love this book. I am hoping everyone can take the time to study this by themselves and with their families! I know that there will be blessings in your life if you do!

Love you all!

Elder Wilde

(also got myself a dope NERF hoop, so I am gonna be ballin'... What it do baby!)

So grateful for these two! Elder Lopez and Elder Montes are so great!