Poem Elder Wilde Wanted Shared

He's Been There Before by Elder Whittle

The alarm bell rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet
I grab my companions bedding and pull off his sheets

A groan fills the room, is it already time to arise?
It seems like just a second ago, I was able to shut my eyes
The morning activities follow- study, prayer and such
When it's time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven't accomplished much

"We have a super day planned,"
My comp. says with a grin
I lowly utter a faithless breath,
"Yeah, if anyone lets us in."

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street prepared to
Face another day of humidity and heat
It's 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through
My companion and I are riding home not accomplishing what we thought to do

We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot
Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate "air Box"
We go up to our apartment, the day is now complete
The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet

It's past 10:30 p.m. My companion is fast asleep,
Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep
In the midst of sadness, I kneel down to pray
I need to talk to father, but I'm not sure what to say

"Oh, Father" I begin, "What happened to us today?
I thought we'd teach somebody, but everyone was away
My hands, my aching hands- worn, hurt and beat;
If our area was any smaller, we'd have knocked every street"

"Why on missions are the days so much alike?
The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike
Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it's very hard to see"

"Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn't your protection enough?
People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff
Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack
I want to give them Books of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back"

"And what about my family: They don't have much to say
I'm sick of not hearing from home day after day after day
Oh Father, Why am I here am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I'm sorry but that's on my mind"

"My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me?"
The way he rides his bicycle, I don't think he can see
Now you have it, I can't go on, I don't know what to do
That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you"

My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed
I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead
Sleep starts to overtake me, I seem to drift away
Then it seems a vision takes me to another time in another day

I'm standing alone on the hill. The view is very nice
A man walks to wards me and says, "My name is Jesus Christ"
Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet
"Arise," He states, "Follow me to the shade. You and I need to speak"

My attention's towards my Savior, total and complete
He says, "Your mission is similar of what happened to me
I understand how you feel, I know what you're going through
In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you"

"I even know how you felt when no one listened to you
At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do
I know you don't like to ride a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn't equipped with 21 speeds"

"I understand you don't like sweating, in fact it's something you hate
I remember when I sweat blood from ev’ry pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don't like your companion- you'd rather have someone else-
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth"

"It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back"

"Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way
It's hard not to hear from home when your family's not there to see
I lost communication on the cross and cried, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

"We have a lot in common, but there's a difference between us you see
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me"
He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His love
With tears in my eyes I watched as He went back to the Father above

I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head
I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed
My companion let out a groan, "6:30 already, no way!"
I sat up and said, "Come on, I'll even carry your scriptures today!"

No matter what we go through,
When we feel we can't take more
Just stop and think about Jesus Christ,
He's been there before

 

Talk Given by Elder Wilde in Sacrament Meeting, Sunday, September 27, 2015

9/27/15 Sacrament Talk on Seeking Revelation

Intro 

 - talk about my life

 - brother Clark has asked me to speak about how to prepare ourselves to receive revelation. 

 - general conference 

What is revelation? 

            - revelation is communication from God to his children on the earth 

Steps to receive revelation 

            - 1st. Baptized by proper priesthood authority and receive the Holy Ghost. The spirit of revelation TYPICALLY functions as thoughts and feelings that come into our mind and hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost.

                                - D&C 100:5-8 (Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men; For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say. But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever thing ye declare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things. And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.

 

As stated in these scriptures, the thoughts will be put into our hearts 

 

            - 2nd. The Holy Ghost has been described as a still small voice 

                                   - 3rd Nephi 11:3 (And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn).

 

Because it is so quiet and gentle we must shun inappropriate, harmful, abusive things in our life so we may hear it.  We must be mentally and physically clean and have the purest intent so the Lord can inspire.  Satan places immoral tools in our paths which may lead to distraction and with that we will be unable to recognize or understand the responses we are seeking. 

 

            - 3rd. Prayer ... Ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you will receive.          - MORONI 10:4-5 (If ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things). 

Messages and revelation come after prayerful preparation. 

                                - Joseph Smith & Oliver Cowdrey learned that the only way they were able to translate the Book of Mormon was through that method. 

                                - In 1 Nephi 15:11 it reads (Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?--If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you) 

                                - Are we not reminded in the story of Enos, as he cried to the Lord that the records of him and his people may be preserved and kept safe from the Lamanites?  It reads in verse 15 (Wherefore, I knowing that the Lord God was able to preserve our records, I cried unto him continually, for he had said unto me: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.) 

                                  

We are constantly reminded throughout the scriptures that we need to have that desire, that faith, and that diligence in order to receive answers or revelation.  

                

              - 4th. TAKE ACTION 

                                   We cannot sit around and expect things to come to us even after we have completed those three crucial steps.  We must show that we are willing to learn and willing to do what it takes to obtain that revelation.  We have been given countless resources - the Bible, the Book of Mormon, church magazines, general conference talks, and of course so many other things.  I can testify that these items contain all the truths and contain all the answers to our questions

In first Nephi after Lehi receives his vision regarding the tree of life, Nephi says "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round".

 

Brothers and sisters we can't simply sit around and hope that answers come to us.  We need to go out and seek it, then we will find it. 

 

After these steps, we are ready to receive revelation; however, as Joseph Smith taught us we learn "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little." 

We may have our patience tested a little along the path; however, we are promised that we will receive answers to our questions, whether it be a little at a time or all at once, it will come. 

There are several ways that we are able to receive revelation, as I discussed earlier.  The most common way to receive revelation is through the Holy Ghost; however, there are other ways.

Ways revelation is received 

            - VISIONS

                      - Lehi's tree of life vision

            - DREAMS 

                      - the Lord visited and warned Omer in a dream that he and his family should depart out of the land which he lived in

            - INSPIRATION 

                      - the Lord typically puts people that we trust and that we respect in our lives that will be a good example to us and that will help us know certain things in times of need. 

           

I'm sure there are countless other ways that we may receive revelation; however, those four ways may be the most common ways. 

As we prepare for general conference, I challenge each and every one of you to enter it with a question, pray with real intent, a sincere heart and faith that you will receive an answer, and then instead of falling asleep or dozing off, listen closely to what these apostles and our prophet have to say.  They are in fact sustained as prophets, seers and wait for it... Revelators. 

 

To close, I would like to end with a short story that actually happened a week or so ago.  It may not be the best of the best stories, but it's something. 

I have always questioned and have had certain edgy feelings regarding HOW Joseph Smith actually translated the Book of Mormon.  I knew that he did it and the Book of Mormon is the most correct book and in my opinion should be called "The Book of Answers," but I wanted to know how he actually did it because no man could write a book like that with his own wisdom, especially during that time period. 

 

So in the morning when we missionaries have an hour of personal study, I said a prayer.  I wanted to know how was it possible for Joseph Smith to have done this... I already knew how he did it but I wanted that reassurance and stronger faith, you could say. 

 

Anyways, I prayed before I did my studying, and I prayed that I might understand how he did it and what not. 

 

As I began reading, I found nothing.  Fifty-ish minutes passed, nothing that helped me understand... I was almost ready to put down the book, but Elder Andrus would say something to me if I did, so I continued on for that last 5-10 minutes.  Minutes passed and it was about time to wrap up our personal study and then a bit of my answer came to me ... In Mosiah, we read about plates that were "discovered in a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel" and once they stumbled upon these plates they were "desirous beyond measure to know concerning those people who had been destroyed, and now he [Mosiah] translated them by he means of those two stones which were fastened into the two rims of a bow.  Now these things were prepared from the beginning, and were handed down from generation to generation, for the purpose of interpreting languages," but my answers did not stop there.  We had a chance to watch the priesthood restoration talk that Elder Nelson gave, and he said something amazing.  He said something along the lines of "there is no way that a young man [Joseph Smith] could write that whole book in three months with at best a 3rd grade education.  His wife said that he was horrible at reading and writing, the only way Joseph Smith was able to translate that Book of Mormon was through the power of God and the use of the Urim and Thummim which portrayed one of the untranslated words on one rock and the translated or English word on the other."

I was at that point fascinated and my testimony had grown and questions had been answered.  God gave us an apostle, a man we respect and admire, in front of me and inspired me. 

The last little thing I want to add regarding general conference coming up is that "what is said is not AS important as what we hear and what we feel."

Brothers and sisters, I have a testimony that as we follow those steps and have that faith we can receive revelation, receive answers to our questions, and gain that stronger testimony we are looking for.  I know general conference can have a massive impact in our lives and that those men that speak to us speak through the word of God and everything they say is modern day scripture. 

 I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  

Week 6 - September 28, 2015

Hello, everyone,

I felt as if I would send one e-mail to all of you because we are all family and we are all going to see this message regardless.

A lot happened this week... A LOT.  I'm a pretty happy fun kid for the most part, but this week just tore me apart...The pope came to town which I know you are all aware of, this having happened everything was on lockdown mode. No busses, no trains, no nothing. This required us to walk more than ever. However I'll get to that part later.

First off, the worst thing happened last Monday after my P day ended and I was on my way to a lesson.  A little boy got hit by a car right in front of us... It was the worst thing ever. Everyone rushed to help the kid... It was so horrible, police/ambulances/tv people were there in seconds... The whole street was taped off.   That was rough.  Just put a huge damper on both of us.  Life is fragile. Can be taken away in seconds...

I don't know how much I can/allowed to tell you, but I'll just tell ya anyways. There was a 'little' robbery down the street from us at a convenient store, and the cops were there within seconds and the street was filled with cops and all the homies protesting of police brutality... However we were trying to get to a lesson and we had to get through that street... So yes two white boys in nice clothes walking through tons of blacks after this is going on... Scared out of my mind, multiple comments were thrown out here and there and yikes, I just prayed as I walked through it, "Keep me safe, keep me safe, keep me safe."  Just the most comforting feeling came down on me.  Picked my head up and walked through it, and that scary feeling was gone within seconds.  (*pounds chest* *points to heaven* I do that all the time, pre-lesson, after lesson, just all the time--Stephen Curry does it.)  I kinda picked it up.  Haha.

Anyways, so then the other day, we thought we got HOOKED UP by the

train because they came back after the Pope was done speaking, and so
we hopped on... Little did we know it went three stations PAST our stop...took us out to the middle of NOWHERE, and so we were already late to our appointment, and we turned the corner after walking a few miles thinking we found the house finally....... Only to come up to a 30 foot brick wall dividing the street... The wall went on for a mile.  Let's just say one or two words came across my mind... It was horrible.  Elder Andrus and I were just beyond mad at that point, and we were both starving, tired, hot, sweaty, so we both just prayed.  We didn't know what we were praying for--just help and strength... 30
seconds later then we got a call from Mike (5 month convert, blind guy) the sweetest most amazing man and he was like, "You boys want some cheese steaks?  I have some for ya..."  We just both started laughing...Yes, we do, Mike.  So we had to walk about three miles back, and my feet have blisters on them, but when I got to his house, we both just fell to the ground.  I thought at one point I was gonna cry, but I didn't.  Hahaha, but wow did vanilla coke zero ever taste so good... I was so thankful.

Anyways, we had a lot more walking to do after that, and when we got home, we went straight up to our room, clothes on everything just PASSED out on our beds within a few seconds.  Woke up this morning just dead.  Hahaha

Sunday started good though.  I gave a talk in Sacrament which I will attach at the end.  It went really well, I prepped a lot. Then we were talking to this lady in our church.  She's in her 60's--very difficult lady.  So the bishop called Elder Andrus and I into his office and was like, "The bishopric wants you two to visit her ..."  We were like, "Oh, good glory, shoot me now," but we did visit her.  Well we didn't.  We told her that we would come over at 4:00 but then that story I told about the wall came up, so we couldn't get to her.

 

So then she calls the bishopric just screaming to them about how we lied about coming over, so we went over around 8:30 Sunday night after our long day, and we brought her fudge because she mentioned how she likes fudge.  So we brought a tiny bit that we had left.  Went over to her house... We talked with her for about 15 minutes... Just stone cold person, I tried my best to be personable but NOTHING could work.. She is a work in progress.

Last rough part of the week - I was in a lesson in this house which is just a complete mess... disaster.  The people are less actives.  Anyways they only have three chairs in the house and the house was so much of a mess, we didn't want to sit on the ground or anything so we stood.  As I was sharing something, I felt something on my leg.  I thought it was Elder Andrus doing something silly like he typically does, but then something starts scratching/tickling... So I look down and there is a freaking mouse on my leg!  I almost LOST IT and went nuts... But all I did was 'drop my pen' go down to pick it up, and smacked the mouse off... Yikes!!!

The good parts!

That same lesson, we thought it would only be Brother King, and our lesson was on the importance of reading the Book of Mormon, so that day Elder Andrus and I had like 20 minutes left in companionship study.  So I came up with the silliest/dumbest/funniest idea... I was like, "Let's make him a little journal he can record his notes in when he reads the Book of Mormon."  So Elder Andrus and I were like, "Well, none of us have a notebook..."  So we tore out like three sheets of paper and taped them together, and we were like.. "This is gonna get thrashed!"  So we took a part of the cardboard box that my mother sent out to me (Thanks, Mama) and we made him a book cover HAHAHA Oh my gosh!  When you see the pics, you're gonna die... Hysterical.

So, we give it to him in the lesson and (wait just one sec - I told Elder Andrus that I'm telling you about this right now.. He's on the ground in tears laughing). On the back of the book, Elder Andrus found this quote which you will read--anyways, I start reading it to everyone there and halfway through I just start dying of laughter... Tearing up, I couldn't hold myself together.  It was hysterical and they were like, "Wowwwwww  This is so beautiful, amazing.  I want one," so now we have to go make more!  Haha

We got one of our investigators to completely stop smoking cigarettes... So check this out - I'm on the phone with him, Julius.  He's 68 black guy... Anyways, I'm on the phone and I'm like "Julius, you want a slurpee?"  He's like "What the h*ll is a slurpee?"  I'm like, "Julius, I'm about to hook you up!" So we bring him the smallest size slurpee, and he just hated it.... He was like "Is this some kind of game you're playing with me?"  Elder Andrus and I are just busting up... So funny.

Good news!  Since Elder Andrus and I have been seeing a lot of success, they are taking the two missionaries in center city (downtown Philly) OUT and giving us that area too!  Now we get to spend p - day there as well, instead of only being able to go once a transfer.  So that will take place next week, I believe.

Anyways, this morning, like I said, it was a tough week, and so I just prayed before personal study and I was like, "Help me, help me, help me," to sum up my prayer.  Hah and so I started reading in Alma 13-15 -- Alma and Amulek were continually persecuted, mocked, starved, spat on for standing up for what they believed.  They were thrown in prison -- after being starved for some period of time, and having their patience tested, Alma was just like, "Alright, this is enough, and he says "How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, o Lord?  O lord, GIVE US STRENGTH ACCORDING TO OUR FAITH WHICH IS IN CHRIST, even unto the deliverance."  And they broke the cords with which they were bound....

The Lord had granted unto them power according to their faith which was in Christ," so after reading that I was like... "Parker, first stop being a baby, second HAVE FAITH.  Have I not been continually blessed in my life?  Then a poem that my father sent to me that I requested last week came to my mind to read (which I will attach), and man did I feel the Spirit.  I seriously just felt so at peace, calm and good and strong and was ready to attack the day!  This cool scripture came to mind:  "They fought for their lives, and for their wives, and for their children; therefore they exerted themselves AND LIKE DRAGONS DID THEY FIGHT."  I thought that was full of swag (yes I said swag, I'm still 18).  Anyways point is, fight, fight and fight some more - "for the Lord God doth visit his people in their afflictions."

Tough week, but I had help!  I also gave the lesson in priesthood session, and someone pointed out a wonderful example - Elder Wasden whom I live with said, "When trials come, you have two choices... 1. You can choose to face defeat, moan, be sad, give up and ask God why he did that to you to.  2. You can say "thank you" and take each challenge as a learning opportunity and as an opportunity to get stronger."  He spit some truth right there...

Last cool thing that happened and then I gotta e-mail all my peeps back home!

Twenty or so army men came walking by and I was like, "God bless.  Thank you so much for your service" and a few of them turned around and said, "No, Elders... We thank YOU for YOUR service" and I was like... "Ok,
that's also swag, but it was cool...." "When he are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Later family, love you all.  Pray for my mother.  Pray for Elder Wilde, Sr.

Til next week!

ELDER WILDE Jr.

 

(A few more notes Elder Wilde shared with his mother.)

 

Time seriously flies out here.  It's crazy haha.  This week was absolute
CHAOS.... Yes, the Pope came to Philly.  Made things impossible, all
of center city (the downtown part of Philly) and South Philly (where I
serve) was on COMPLETE lockdown... MILLIONS of people.... It was
ridiculous.  Trains were shut down, public transportation was shut down,
too... It was just dreadful trying to get around.

I'm glad you're getting time to relax.  Dad tells me what is actually going on
with you - you need to get better!  I'm a momma's boy til the day I die
and I need you healthy! 

 

Week 5 - September 21, 2015

What's good, my fam?

First thing first... I feel like I emailed you all yesterday?  This

week FLEW by... It's true when they say that weeks turn into days!

Seriously so fast...

Also, I love how Bracken said that his mission was the best.  It's hard

to contend with Australia, considering I'm pretty sure he is on

vacation but who knows.  However, let's not forget that most of the

United States history began in Philly... Oh wait also, let's not

forget that the priesthood was restored here, too... Pretty

sure nothing like that happened in Australia :)  Speaking of, I had the

chance to watch the Priesthood Restoration and let me tell ya...

Absolutely incredible!  I don't know if you all watched it or not, but it should

be on lds.org and it was straight fire!  Elder Nelson gave the talk

and he spit some TRUTH!  It was incredible... Just go watch it! 

Dedication of Priesthood Restoration Site
(Click on the link above to watch the entire dedication or just the portion where Elder Nelson speaks.  In addition, you may scroll down and view a short video of events that transpired there when the Priesthood was restored in 1829.)
 

Lots of interesting things happened this week, I'll just talk about a few of

them - Tuesday I had golden re-training where I went and got my last

thing of training in and I got to see everyone from the MTC and

it was so good... Just listening to everyone's experiences so far

hahah quite funny... 

 (Trainer for Elder Andrus along with Elder Andrus who is the trainer for Elder Wilde, and Elder Wilde who is a future trainer for some other new Elder who will enter this mission.  Elder Wilde called this picture, "My grandfather, father, and me.")

(Philadelphia skyline.)

(Eating a true Philadelphia cheese steak.)

Philadelphia is most definitely diverse, to say the least... We had a  less-active member running in the middle of the road trying to end her life.  Then she called us telling us about

it and we were like uh.... What the heck are you doing?  So we got

an appointment with her the next day, and her arms and legs were just

cut everywhere and we were like omg what are you doing to yourself?

She's been having some relationship problems with some of her

friends.... Let me rewind, this woman is white, 60+ years old, no job,

crazy.  We meet with her two times a week and she treats us as more of a

therapist then missionaries, so finally this week I got in there and

just basically set everything straight -  I told her basically this -

"Listen, we are 18 and 19 year old boys out here serving a mission, we

teach the doctrine of Christ and help apply it to your lives so you

can be happier - that is what we are here to do.  We will listen to

your problems but you need to go to the bishop to talk about it if you

want relationship answers."  Obviously I said it very kindly and what

not - anyways we read a scripture from the Bible which told her that

this body she has isn't hers and that God gave it to us so we could

dwell here on earth and that by disrespecting her body she is

disrespecting God.  Then we read her some 2nd Nephi Chapter 26 verse

30 talking about charity and love, and then some Mosiah Chapter 2

which has some love one another stuff in it.  Anyways it was probably

our most powerful and spiritually lesson elder Andrus and I have ever

had.  She was so touched by the Spirit and so were we.  It was quite

incredible to say the least.  Anyways we were like, "Now listen up!  You

need to get to church.  God promises us that when we follow his

commandments we will be blessed immediately, and church is a place

where we can worship with people who worship the same thing as us."  

So she came on Sunday after not attending for four months.  She was just

in tears at church and thanked us so much for being there for her and

helping her - quite a surreal experience.  

We had six less actives commit

and go to church this week after not have been going for the past four

months - just watching their body emotions and the way they listened

and talked in church... One of them said, "I'm finally home."  I was like

"Yeah, you're home, so you're gonna always come now, right, - yes!"

Lol good stuff. 

We got dropped by two of our investigators with

baptismal dates because they need time on their own to figure out if

it's right for them.... That was a downer, but whatever.  God

works on his own time yfeel?  However, now we have two more with

baptismal dates - Kevin and Sarita - both killin it, doing great.

Sarita's dad has been coming for a few months, and then he just went MIA on

us... We hadn't heard from him in like a week, missed two lessons,

wasn't answering phone calls ... Met with Sarita - check this... HE'S

IN JAIL!  Some immigration problem... That put us in shock! 

Anyways,

we had a swag dinner with some members named the Gabrielsons, two

brothers and their wives.  They were so chill, really young still in

college, had an amazing time... Felt like home!  Never laughed so hard in

my life, my abs were hurting... 

Then this morning a member took us out

golfing to a country club...  It was so fun lol, great

time.   Elder Andrus is pretty good.  We go back and forth on holes.  

We were at the park the other day just passing through and these kids

were like, "Yo, white boys - what you got huh?"  Lol I gave Elder Andrus

an under the legs off the backboard dunk and these kids were looking

at us cluelessly like, "What just happened?" It was so funny.  I should

have recorded it. 

We saw two Black chicks just beat the crap out of

each other.  We were planning at the church next to the window.  They

were killin each other ... Hahahaha  I wanted popcorn.  I found some

dreads on the side of the road after lol . 

Check this out... So we had

a meeting we had to get to ASAP... And so we saw this bus coming and

we knew it wasn't the right bus but it was heading in a similar

direction so we were like, "Let's get on it and hope for the

best................"  Wrong choice.  We got dropped off in the middle of

who knows where.... Had to walk five miles back to get to

civilization, horrible.  Kind of funny though, but it sucked... 

So,

Sunday night we were walking back after dinner and it was like 8:15ish

and I was like, "Yo, Elder Andrus.... Let's just street contact for

a bit..."  And so we start walking and this guy comes up to us and he's

like, "Man, why do the Eagles lose so much?" and so we start talking sports for

a bit and then I'm like, "Man, the Eagles can only pray to the man above

to get a win right now.."  And he was like, "Absolutely!"  Then I was like,

"OH, SO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD, HUH?"  Lol funny way to bring up God.  Anyways he

was extremely interested.  His name is "Hat Man" because he makes hats

for a living... I know I know what the ... Lol, but he was SO

interested and we just had q great conversation, and we are meeting

with him this week!  Cool stuff... 

Also, let me tell ya, these people

live and die for their Eagles... Like legit... EVERYONE is geared up

on game day... And then the riots happen afterwards, which are Kind of

sketch.  

Also, Elder Andrus makes fun of Roscoe and Roxy... I have given him some

lashings at night.  I wait til he's asleep and then whip him with my

belt.  But that's only because he whipped me because my shoe laces come

untied so much. 

It was another great week.  There is so much more I

could tell ya, but my brain turns to mush after a little while!  Hope

you all have another lovely week!  Love you :)

P.s. Tell my younger brothers to write me... Bunch of losers.

Love you!

Elder Wilde

 

  ( Small World:  The card above is from a family the Wildes were good friends with in Shanghai.  They now live in Philly and are looking forward to seeing Elder Wilde at some point during his mission) 

We thought it was appropriate to add a portion of the letter Elder Wilde wrote his dad:

Not gonna lie, I knew that I had to serve a mission, it's something I just knew I needed to do. I wasn't like thrilled out of my mind to leave my boys, fam, girl, all that for two years - but everyone was like, "It's the best two years of our lives," so I was like... "Ok, how is that possible?"  So I did it and went on this mish... I know that it is the best two years... A) you get to serve GOD... Our creator, and Eternal Father that has given me the most amazing life... Who I am ever indebted to, as King Mosiah says in the Book of Mormon.  B) As I serve him, I get to change people's lives... See smiles on their faces, help them... And that is where true happiness lives - not helping yourself - helping someone else... When I walk out of someone's house,,, I have NEVER felt so at peace and happy before... Of course there are so many other things... But those two stick out to the most.  Now having said that, my area is hard, walking all day in the heat is brutal.  It's not a nice area whatsoever, it's sketch; however, I know the man above has got my back, so I truly am not scared... I love you father, you're a good man, and a fantastic example - us kiddos look up to you.