I thought it was
appropriate to add my brother Bracken in this...
Anyways, done with
week two! Wowwwwwww... went by so fast! I'm off to Philly tomorrow and am so
pumped to talk to the fam in the morning :))
What an interesting
week it has been. Two Elders in our District decided this was too hard for them
and they went home, so I got a new companion, Elder Bell.
I guess I'll just tell
you my highlights. We had our investigator Ny, from Madagascar. We taught her on
like the third day of the MTC and met with her basically every other day which
was way sweet, but we had so many awesome times with her... let me tell you
something I learned this week that has helped me so much in my lessons: "TEACH PEOPLE, NOT LESSONS." Nobody wants to hear a bunch of random gospel
stuff that doesn't apply to the problems they may be facing in their life...
they want to hear stuff that applies to them, so after making what I thought
were beautiful lessons, I went into our third lesson with Ny, dropped my note
book on the ground, and just talked to her, got to know her so much more, understood
her life, and I found the root everything... A cool line I heard this week from
a talk from Elder Bednar was "If you listen with love, you will never
wonder what to ask," and that has been so inspirational all week for me and
is the biggest take away... It's like all these people want are to be loved and
to have someone comfort them and have someTHING comfort them which is what we
teach them... I have learned and I' not even in the field yet, but it's so much
better to have the people trust them and love them and care for them than to
just go in and teach a lesson.... anyways by like our 7th lesson, I think,
we were talking about baptism, and literally I just got THE feeling and was
like, "I have seen you grow so much and have faith," and all that good stuff. I was
just like, "Will you be baptized by proper priesthood authority" ... etc. and she
was like, "Yes. Absolutely..." She said that whenever she is in our presence she
feels so at peace and calm and that she believes all the things we have taught
her and that she has prayed and she has already read like half the Book of Mormon and I
was like .... Oh my gosh! lol - So, we helped set up a date and what not in three weeks,
but unfortunately I won't be here, so we actually went in with other
missionaries on our last visit with her and they got all her contact info and
what not - it was way cool. Obviously, I know it won't always be that easy.. but yeah,
it's amazing and I just felt great.
Two really cool things happened to me this week as well: During class one of the teachers came up to me while we were all working on something, and I was like, "Oh gosh, what did I do wrong now?"... but he took me outside and was like, "Elder Wilde.... has anyone ever told you that you are a born leader?" and I was like, "Ummm, what do you mean?" haha and he said, "You know, you just connect with everyone in that class, you involve everyone, make everyone feel good about themselves. One of the Elders came to me the other day and said some really nice stuff about you," and I was like, "Well, that's very nice. Thank you," but then he was like, "You have to know this is a God-given talent and just as much as He gave it to you, He can take it away from you if you don't exercise it in the correct ways, so with this power you have, be smart with it on your mission and in life," and I was like, "For sure, okay, thank you"...
But, it gets cooler, my companion and I were asked to give the lesson in Priesthood.. and I totally just didn't have much time to prepare so I just kinda went with it (it was on receiving the Holy Ghost and recognizing it) and anyways, it was a great lesson but after the class the Mission President who sat in on it came up to me and was like, "How long did you spend preparing that lesson? That was one of the best priesthood lessons I've sat in on in a while," and I was like "Umm.... honestly, President, I didn't prepare whatsoever." ... I'm not sure if he was happy about that, but he kind of said the same thing. He was like, "I love how you involved everyone instead of just preaching at us. You have a great skill at involving everyone and making them feel welcome"...
I'm blessed to have been told those things and won't forget them! I know that I will exercise those skills for the best and help others.
Hmmm, trying to think what else I did this week. I went to the temple (just for a walk about) and it was really nice. Honestly, Sundays are my favorite now because they are so relaxing hahaha. I look forward to them, and at night they have the best devotionals. I actually enjoy listening to them; however, we had a going away devotional where all the Elders and Sisters say what they learned and stuff, and it was after dinner so naturally I kinda... passed out, but listen to this!! I'm sitting there and all the sudden, Elder Mounch decides, "Hey, it would be fun to say something while Elder Wilde is completely passed out." ... They hand the microphone to him and the camera is on him, but it's on me, too... I'm completely GONE and everyone in the room just starts busting up laughing, and I wake up and everyone laughs more and more... ugh it was so funny but awkward lol
Hmmm what else... few
words on the Holy Ghost... never felt it this much in my life... when i learn
or teach... wow, its surreal... it seriously is so legit... and I have never
truly recognized it in my life until now...
The BIGGEST
adjustment and something that is so extremely difficult for me is the whole no
music thing... it DESTROYS me not listening to my music... it's seriously so
hard, but
seriously... wanna know what I slap to now??? It's the BEST song ever and gives
me the best vibes... the fam should definitely listen to this one night:
Hmmm, I think that's
about it. Trying to remember anything else... umm I really really really really
want photos and a photo book... I hate not being able to look at something
every night :/ most elders have one and I don't, so it's a bummer...
Philly is suppose to
be 105 degrees on Wednesday, but a nice 94 tomorrow... so I'm gonna have some
fun adjusting to the heat!!!
Also, we are all SO
pumped for the temple in Philly. It's coming next fall!!! They bought out this HUGE
building next to it so it can be a parking lot/residence for people... It's
gonna bring in TONS of people... I hope I get to go to the dedication....
Anyways, that's about
it for the week - I always go back to my scripture - "I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me"... and it's so true - I know that whatever
trials are in our lives or whatever you're going through, it's a test of our
faith, and God has a plan and God will help us through everything... also, the Atonement is so legit...
LOVE YOU ALL,
Elder Wilde
Elder Wilde
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