Why, hello
everyone!
Hope you all had a wonderful first week of November! I know we did
here in Philly! It's still surprisingly "warm" (about 45 degrees) and
just another week that was over in a blink of an eye! I have this little
inspirational quote book that I have and one of my favorite things I read this
week was as follows: "Who decides if you are happy or unhappy?" Dr.
Peale answered, "You do." He told about having a conversation over
dinner in a railway car with a couple during a trip. The woman, dressed in
designer clothing, declared the rail car dingy and drafty, the service poor, and
the food terrible. Her husband, in contrast, was an easygoing, enjoyable man.
During dinner, Peale asked the man what business he was in. He said he was a
lawyer and his wife was in manufacturing. This was surprising, as she did not
appear to be the industrial type. So Peale asked, "What does she
manufacture?" "She manufactures her own happiness," replied the
man.
UGH that's
straight fire! I think it's so true because we can all decide whether we want
to be happy or not. We can let people TRY and get in our way of being happy, we
can let trials TRY to stress us out, we can let ________ TRY and make us
unhappy... OR we can decide whether we want to be happy or not. Our happiness
is in OUR hands not others. Don't let anything get in your way of being happy!
There are people, places, and things that can take that comfort and joy away
from you if you ALLOW it to... So really, don't allow it to, right?
The scripture
of the week is found in the Bible - Matthew 10:39 and it reads: "He that
findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake
shall find it."
I love that
scripture so much! I feel like we can all find ourselves when we are in the
service of others and trying to show kindness and be an example to others!
The weekly
quote was: "The man of character finds a special attractiveness in
difficulty, since it is only by coming to grips with difficulty that he
can find his potentialities." - Charles de Gaulle
I also really
like this one because if we don't have sorrow, then we don't know happiness; if
we don't have pain, we don't have joy; without trials we wouldn't grow
stronger!
I'd love to
share of some experiences this week!
1. As you know
I've been trying to learn piano, which I have improved a lot and bought a book
to help self-teach myself! However - living in Shanghai for six years, I
remember some of my Mandarin and there is a 16 year old boy from Beijing that
moved here two years ago named Tian Xu. He met with missionaries for a
while when he moved here and was almost baptized but was scared to commit.
Anyways, he hasn't met with missionaries for a longggg time, and the bishop of
our church called me up and was like, "ELDER WILDE, GET OVER TO TIAN XU AND
SPEAK CHINESE TO HIM!!!" So, I was like... Alright haha I'll try," so we go
over to his house. I speak to him the best I can in my torn apart Chinese, and
he was just STUNNED a white boy in Philly speaking Chinese? He asked US to come
inside... So we did and I still tried to continue speaking to the best of my
ability, and we walked inside and he had a piano, so I asked if I could try and
play. He said, "Of course," and I played "Apologize," by One Republic and he was
like, "Yeah, you're okay," and I was like, "Oh, wow, thanks!" I asked to watch him play
and he said, "Of course..." Little did I know, Tian XU is the second best piano
player in CHINA and was asked to come here to Philly by some really famous
musical school to play and perform here... Anyways, there is a parable in the
Bible which talked about Christ giving 5 talents (money) to one man, 2 talents
to another, and 1 talent to the last. The man who had 5 doubled his talents to
10 and then the man who had 2 doubled his talents to 4 and the man who had 1
talent hid his talent under the ground. They all came back to Christ and told
him what they did. He was furious with the man who did nothing with his talent
and took it away and gave it away to the man who doubled his... Point of the
story is, we are all given talents (not money) from God+Christ and if we don't
make the most of our talents, they will be taken away from us. I told this to
Tian XU in English because he understood a little and I challenged him to come
to church and play piano for us! He did. Anyways, I'll attach a little bit of
him playing. Most amazing thing ever.
(Elder Wilde with Tian Xu.)
I've been
trying to teach Elder Andrus some Chinese and then I tell him to talk to people
that are Chinese around and he tries and they don't understand him. Then I step
in and help him out and Elder Andrus gets so mad because he can't speak it
correctly lol.
2. I wrote
last week about how we met with three Catholic people, Linda, Joe and Severio.
Anyways, they lost their mother about a month and a half ago and all don't have
jobs and live off of something called S.S.I. Anyways, they have like NO
food in their house, so we helped them get a food order in from our church.
Monday night after my P day was over, we went over there for a lesson. Joe was
having a tough day. The top of his bathroom wall fell through due to plumbing,
people were saying some nasty stuff to him, he's a heavy smoker. Anyways, his
son came over and I saw them walk outside to smoke some weed mid-lesson and I
was mad, but of course I didn't say anything. So he comes back inside, can't
walk to save his life, and falls right on top of me... So I was a little
frustrated now, but I wouldn't let it really bother me. I was eager to continue
the lesson. He sits down and then he starts smoking his cigarettes right in
front of me and blowing it in my face. Little bit more frustrated. Then his
phone starts going off and he is shouting on the phone, the lesson just turned
into a disaster - I asked him to put his phone away and he got RIGHT into my
face and shouted at me and I was wanting to swing SO bad, but I kept it together
and just relaxed. Anyways, few days pass, Thursday their food order is done and
they got hooked up with SOOO much food and so we took it into their house, and
Severio, who is awesome, just started kissing me (not on the lips) and was
bawling his eyes out. He was so thankful and then Joe was like,
"Thanks!" Linda was really happy, as well. Anyways, we come back
Saturday and Joe gets on his knees and just apologizes his heart out to me
saying he will never disrespect me like that again, begging for forgiveness-
imagine that - 50 year old man on his knees apologizing to a 19 year
old... They ended up coming to church on Sunday and loved it. It was a great
experience.
3. Kevin, one
of our investigators, is getting baptized on Sunday. I'm super excited for it!
Hopefully, I can baptize him, but we will see! He's super solid, 15 year old kid,
really nice.
4. We had a
mini-missionary join us for four days whose name is Blake. He is 19 preparing to
go on a mission. One thing I've learned out here on the mission is just not to
complain because complaining doesn't get you anywhere and won't fix a problem,
but he very much so tested my patience. Anyways, I won't talk much about
that.
5. I've
become pretty decent at making omelets! Just thought I'd throw that in there 
I'm trying to
think about what else we did this week. We just had TONS of lessons and stuff
which was great. Really can't remember much. I'm sure lots of other stuff
happened and I just can't really remember.... Anyways, it makes sense why they
had us stay in on Halloween. There were a few shootings literally like right
down the street and four people died. Now cops are on every corner.
We are
currently having like a 20 person ping pong tournament at my church, and I'm in
the semi finals, so wish me luck 
Love you all
soooooo much! I'm grateful for all of you and everything you do for me - your
constant support means so much!
Elder Wilde
"Hold on Thy Way," By Elder Koichi Aoyagi, Emeritus Member of the Seventy.
Put God first,
regardless of the trials you face. Love God. Have faith in Christ, and entrust
yourself to Him in all things. Koichi Aoyagi stated , "On March 11, 2011, I was standing
on a platform in the Tokyo Shinagawa train station to visit the Japan Kobe
Mission. At approximately 2:46 p.m., a 9.0-magnitude massive earthquake struck.
I was not able to stand because of the intense shaking, and I held tightly to a
stair rail. Lights on nearby ceilings began falling to the floor. All of Tokyo
was in a panic. Fortunately, I was not injured, and four hours later, I was
relieved to learn that my entire family was safe. On television there was a
stream of terrifying, shocking footage. A massive tsunami surged into the
Sendai mission area--sweeping away everything in its path: cars, houses,
factories, and fields. I was stunned by the tragic images, and I wept. And I
fervently prayed that our Heavenly Father’s protection and assistance would be
upon all the people living in this region that I so dearly love.
Later, it was
confirmed that all the missionaries and Church members were safe. However, many
members were affected, losing their family members, homes, and household
possessions. Nearly 20,000 people perished, communities were destroyed, and
many people were forced to leave their homes as a result of a nuclear power
plant accident.
Disasters such as this are wreaking havoc in many parts of the
world today, causing much loss of life. We are warned that disasters, wars, and
countless difficulties in the world will occur. When trials such as these
suddenly come upon us, we may question, 'Why do these things happen to me?' or
'Why do I have to suffer?' For a long period after I converted to the gospel, I
didn’t have a clear answer to the question 'Why am I given trials?' I
understood the part of the Plan of Salvation that says we will be tested.
However, in reality, when it came to this question, I did not have a conviction
that was powerful enough to adequately answer it. But there came a time in my
life when I too experienced a major trial.
When I was 30 years old, I was
visiting the Nagoya mission as part of my work. After the meeting, the mission
president kindly arranged for the Elders to drive me to the airport. However,
as we reached the intersection at the bottom of a long hill, a large truck came
barreling down from behind us at great speed. It rammed into the rear of our
car and propelled it forward more than 70 feet (20 m). The terrifying part of
all of this was there was no driver. The rear of our car was compacted to half
its original size. Fortunately, both the Elders and I survived. However, on the
following day, I began experiencing pain in my neck and shoulders and developed
a severe headache.
From that day, I couldn’t sleep and I was forced to live
each day with both physical and mental pain. I prayed to God to please heal my
pain, but these symptoms lingered on for about 10 years. At this time, feelings
of doubt also began creeping into my mind, and I wondered, 'Why do I have to
suffer this much pain?' However, even though the kind of healing I sought was
not granted, I strove to be faithful in keeping God’s commandments. I
continued to pray that I would be able to resolve the questions I had about my
trials.
There came a time when I found myself struggling with a few additional
personal issues, and I was agitated because I did not know how to cope with
this new trial. I was praying for an answer. But I didn’t receive an answer
right away. So I went and talked with a trusted Church leader. As we were
talking, with love in his voice, he said, 'Brother Aoyagi, isn’t your purpose
for being on this earth to experience this trial? Isn’t it to accept all the
trials of this life for what they are and then leave the rest up to the Lord?
Don’t you think that this problem will be resolved when we are resurrected?'
When I heard these words, I felt the Spirit of the Lord very strongly. I had
heard this doctrine countless times, but the eyes of my understanding had never
been opened to the extent they were at this time. I understood this was the
answer that I had been seeking from the Lord in my prayers. I was able to
clearly comprehend our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation and understand anew
this important principle.
In Abraham, the Lord God declared, 'And we will prove
them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God
shall command them.' The principle is that the God who created the heavens and
the earth knows the grand design of this earth, that He has dominion over all
things in the heavens and the earth, and that in order to bring to pass the
plan of salvation, He provides us with many different experiences--including
some trials--while we are on this earth. And the Lord said the following to
Joseph Smith: 'Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee
experience, and shall be for thy good. … 'Therefore, hold on thy way … ,
for God shall be with you forever and ever.'
The trials of this
earth--including illness and death--are a part of the Plan of Salvation and are
inevitable experiences. It is necessary for us to 'hold on [our] way' and
accept our trials with faith. However, the purpose of our lives is not merely
to endure trials. Heavenly Father sent His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, as our
Savior and Redeemer so we could overcome the trials we face on this earth; in
other words, He makes our weak things become strong, He atones for our sins and
our imperfections, and He makes it possible for us to obtain immortality and
eternal life. President Henry B. Eyring stated: 'The test a loving God has
set before us is not to see if we can endure difficulty. It is to see if we can
endure it well. We pass the test by showing that we remembered Him and the
commandments He gave us.' 'Hold on thy way' is a key choice during times of
trial. Turn your heart to God, especially when you face trials. Humbly obey the
commandments of God. Show faith to reconcile your wishes with the will of God.
Let’s now consider that rear-end collision in Nagoya. I could have died in that
accident. Nevertheless, through the Lord’s grace, I miraculously survived. And
I know that my sufferings were for my learning and for my growth. Heavenly
Father schooled me to temper my impatience, to develop empathy, and to comfort
those who are suffering. When I realized this, my heart was filled with
feelings of thankfulness toward my Heavenly Father for this trial. Put God
first, regardless of the trials you face. Love God. Have faith in Christ, and
entrust yourself to Him in all things. Moroni makes the following promise to
such people: 'And if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God
with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you,
that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ.' I sincerely testify that God
the Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, live and that God’s promises to
those who 'hold on [their] way' and love Him will be fulfilled even in the
midst of trials, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Wilde
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