Balanyork

Hello everyone!

Hope all is well in the US because I am chilling here in Balanyork haha. That is a nickname missionaries in the past have for Balancán. Where I'm at is a tiny town with one store and a whole lot of nothing, so the nickname coming from New York doesn't make much sense but it's fun to say. This week was basically just adjusting to the area and meeting some people. 

I got here on Wednesday and Thursday morning and my companion, Elder Gallegos and I, were told we are no longer allowed to have in person lessons which sucks real bad. The only exception was if we already had them set or if it is at the church. We made sure to get all of our in person lessons in so I was able to meet some people. There aren't a lot of people here so I think I'll meet everyone in the next week or so. But yeah we had some good lessons this week and it has just been an interesting experience overall. 

Now there may not be a lot of stores and stuff here but there are crocodiles and monkeys! There's a little pond about 40 yards from our house that has a bunch of crocs so sometimes we go feed them. The monkeys are pretty sweet not gonna lie. There are 2 types, the cute little ones that you wanna hold, and the big boys who scream loud and want to attack. So far I have only seen the little boys close up and the big boys I saw from a distance. We can hear them screaming in the morning and its actually scary and does not sound like a monkey. 

My little spiritual thought this week is how grateful I am for the sacrament. At church yesterday we had a solid 14 people including us. I was able to give a talk and I mentioned that the sacrament is the highlight of the week and we need to work to invite everyone to church on Sunday to partake of it. Don't take the sacrament for granted because it's amazing and we are so blessed to have it. 

Love you all! 

Elder Wilde 

Bye bye Mina

Hello everyone!

I hope all is well! This week was weird honestly so let's see if I can remember what happened as I write this. First off, we received transfer news and I will be going to the other side of the mission to an area named Balancán and I'll be finishing the training of Elder Gallegos. Don't know much about the area or the companion but I'm excited. It might be my last area too so that's weird! We had a couple cool lessons this week so let me talk about those. 

First cool lesson was with some guys we met last week because they said something to me in English so we contacted them. I'm pretty sure I talked about them last week. Francisco and Rafael are brothers and they have a bunch a friends and it's confusing because 3 are named Eric. Part of the reason they wanted to listen was because I said we will have an English class afterwards but as we taught they were all so pumped to hear about another book that talks about Jesus. We have visited them a few times and they literally only want to talk about the Book of Mormon. 

They best lesson this week was with Isaí! If you guys go back to last transfer, Isaí is the guy I baptized and my favorite person ever. He isn't in my area but we went on divisions for a lesson and I was able to talk with him. He is so solid it's amazing. My man already has read all of the scriptures and is preparing to go to the temple in the next couple weeks when it opens up. When I walked in their house I could feel the change and the happiness that they have from the Gospel. I love that family so much! 

Just wanna finish saying that God loves you and the church is true. I have learned so much since being back in Mexico and look forward to learning more in these last few months!

Love you all!

Elder Wilde

TikTok Fame

Qué onda dudes! Slow and hot week with some interesting stuff. But the best part was remaking one of my tiktoks with a family and it was so terribly made but at the same time my favorite thing ever haha. The work was real slow this week because every lesson fell, literally it was bad. But I learned lots of stuff from it so let me tell ya. 

So last week we killed it with numbers, found a lot of people and put a lot on date. Maybe I got too cocky but this week was rough. We still managed to find 5 people which isn't terrible, definitely better than 0 so I should be grateful. We had so many appointments set up and when it was a phone call they didn't answer and when it was in person they weren't home. BUT I still managed to learn some stuff. 

First lesson learned, don't be discouraged when something doesn't go right. This week I read a little bit about Alma getting roasted by the people of Ammonihah and he left the city pretty depressed but then the angel pulled up and told him he needed to go back. Sure enough he did and found Amulek. Similar thing happened with us. On Monday night we went to a lesson and the people said "don't come back here we don't want to learn" and so I left pretty bummed but then we met a sick family and they invited us in and we talked about the Book of Mormon. We found them because they shouted "hello brother how are you?" And I always use English as an opportunity to contact someone. Well it worked and we set up an appointment with them. 

We pulled up to the appointment the next day and homie weren't there, so we left to the next one and luckily found one of the kids in the street with 3 of his friends and he hyped us up saying how cool our "Mormon Book" was. Well we set up the appointment for another day and that fell as well. 

The other lesson I learned was to never take the First Vision for granted. We taught a lady who was baptized a few years ago but honestly she doesn't remember anything that was taught. It was so fun to visit her because she's just this nice old lady who loves the bible. Anyways, we taught the restoration to her and when we explained the First Vision she said "that is an incredible experience! How did a 14 year old boy have that much faith? We are so blessed to have him in our life!" I was like you tell them Yolanda, she was spitting straight facts! Man am I so grateful for that experience in my life!

Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. He translated the Book of Mormon. It is so true. I love this gospel it's the best!

Love you all!

Elder Wilde

Busy Week

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all doing well. This week was pretty crazy! We did divisions on Wednesday, had interviews on Thursday, and zone conference on Friday. We had lots of lessons and found a lot to teach. 

Wednesday for divisions I went with Elder Zazueta. He is from somewhere in Mexico honestly I don't remember haha. I went over to his area because they haven't had too much success with numbers but we were able to put somebody on date which was fun. He's a good missionary and only has a few months out. 

Interviews with President were awesome! Because we don't have as many missionaries in the mission, we are able to have about 20 minutes each interview which is really nice. We talked about the work and the plan that each branch has to find people. Talking with President is always the best. 

At zone conference we talked about the Holy Ghost and it was awesome! I learned a bunch of things and especially the importance of the spirit in our lives. As missionaries we need to have it always but we also need to help those we teach recognize it. I was able to meet some people at zone conference like Elder Sibbett who served in my home ward.

As far as finding people goes, it's still going great. We found 15 this week and put 4 on date. I'm feeling pretty good about the people we put on date and we are gonna continue to work with them. This week I've noticed the Lord in on all of the details. Every person we have met has been placed in our path for a reason and I know that. I'm so grateful for this work! 

Love you all! 

Elder Wilde 

Templo

Hello my friends! 

The week was a little slow not gonna lie but it's okay because I got to go to the temple! My companion hadn't received his endowment because the nearest temple to him is Mexico City and he never had time to go. I was also able to sit in on a sealing of one of the hermanas in my district who was sealed to her mom and dad. It was such a special experience.

Being in the temple is always a special feeling. The endowment session is always super awesome and doing it in Spanish was pretty cool too. The highlight was for sure the sealing though. Hermana Navarrete's dad passed away a few years ago and she is a convert to the church along with her mom so they finally got sealed together and it was soooooo cool! If made me super grateful for the priesthood and blessings that come from the temple. 

We found a couple people this week but the one that seems the most promising is a dude named Bryan. We met him yesterday and he was telling us how his mom died 10 years ago when he was 7 and I was like "do you know where she is now?" And homie didn't know so I was like "okay we are gonna come by tomorrow and tell you the answer" then we left him with Alma 40 and he seemed pretty excited. We have a lesson with him tonight so I'm hoping we can help him out. 

This week I've been studying temples a lot just because we went. I've also been listening to Saints when I have time and man is it cool to hear the experience of the early members of the church. I am so grateful for the restored gospel in my life! 

Love you all!

Elder Wilde 

On the Grind

Sup dudes! 

Solid week out here full of lots of good things. Saw some old man softball, lots of interesting interactions with drunks, and we found 16 people to teach. It was a fun time.

We started off the week trying to find some people and as we were walking around we ran into a softball field and watched some old man softball. Brought me back to my glory days playing with American Crafts and putting in work with the squad. I was enjoying how serious the guys here take it haha I felt like I was watching some professional baseball except with some chubby old dudes drinking beer instead of Gatorade and smoking cigarettes instead of eating sunflower seeds. Maybe this week I will go play with them. 

So we found 16 people because a member hooked it up with referrals. We walked around the colony and talked with everyone he knew which was basically everyone. I had some amazing interactions with some drunk people and was even offered somebody's wife, it was an interesting conversation. We are hoping we can make progress with them. Being white with blue eyes is a big advantage because they start to speak English so it's easy to contact them. 

I think the coolest part was yesterday during our lesson when we set 2 baptism dates. They have been taught for a year or so and were on date but it never happened. I asked at the end of the lesson if they believe in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith's first vision and they said yes. I then told them that means they believe this is Christ's church and they are ready for baptism. We put the date for the 12th of June so pray it happens! 

The church is still true and Jesus loves you! Love you all!

Elder Wilde 

HOT HOT HOT

What's up y'all. 

I feel like my emails for the next little while might start off saying how hot it is haha legit I have never been so hot in my life! I am always sweating and there is no escaping the heat 😂. 

The week was slow and fast as usual. We spent the first few days working with the members and trying to find people to teach and then we found a couple. We put 2 girls on date for June 6 and I'm thinking they might be solid. We met them at a family home evening with some members and from there we set up another lesson. Their names are Lorena and Anyensi. They are sisters and their youngest sister is a member with a solid testimony. We are gonna keep working with them hoping we can help them progress! 

There wasn't anything too crazy that happened this week so I'm gonna skip to the spiritual thought. 

I read the story of Jesus walking on water and Peter having the faith to try it. Peter was doing it until he got scared and sunk and immediately the Savior reached out to save him. I studied the institute manual with it and there were lots of cool insights. I love this story of faith and the comfort that comes knowing that Christ is ready to catch us immediately. 

Love you all! 

Elder Wilde