Pitching the Gospel in Mexico: 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!)