Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Week 64 - November 7, 2016

Hello there, friends & family!

It was a great week here in Jersey.  Couldn't have asked for better
weather either, my goodness!



We were for sure busy this week and will be even more busy this upcoming week!
Michelle got confirmed in sacrament meeting, that was very exciting.

Wednesday, I was on splits with one of the members and we went and
visited one of our investigators, Cynthia.  Elder Holden and I knocked
on her door about two months ago and she was on the phone with someone
talking about how she needed to get back to church but didn't know
where to go because she just moved to the area.  In our lesson, we
taught about obedience and sacrifice.  She works a ton on Sunday as a
nurse in New York and she is always on call.  Anywho, at the very
beginning of the lesson, I asked her if she had been reading the Book
of Mormon and she told me she was one step ahead of me.  I asked her
what her favorite chapter was in 1 Nephi and she said 6.  I was trying
to think what she could have liked so much in that chapter considering
it is only a few verses long, so to help me out, she quoted two or
three verses in a row without having her book open.  I was impressed.
To lead into the lesson, I, of course, went to 1 Nephi 3:7 and she quoted
that too!  She told us that she is "addicted to reading the Book of
Mormon" and that "it is the only thing that has brought her peace
throughout the day."  She has a baptismal date for November 26.

Thursday,
I went to Camden New Jersey with an Elder that is about to
finish his mission.  He has five weeks left and what's interesting is that
he actually started his mission here.  We walked forever I swear.  I
haven't walked that much since Philly.  My legs were dead when we got
in.  We had a small miracle, well he did.  Not so much me.  He had taught
this man named Pete when he first started serving in Camden, and Pete
was sooo close to getting baptized but something came up which
prevented him.  The Elder got transferred and the Elders after him
deleted Pete's teaching record.  Fast forward 18 months + later, no
Elder has ever gone to see him.  The Elder I was with remembered where
he lived.  We went and saw him, he was sooo far beyond happy to see the
Elder.  He said he had been reading the Book of Mormon everyday waiting
to get baptized.  He will be baptized in a few weeks.  It was a unique
experience to be a part of.  I slept well that night, too :)

Friday, we received a referral for a young lady named Alanna.  The text
message we received was, "She is interested in joining the church."
Elder Lake and I immediately dropped what we were doing to go visit
her, but unfortunately she wasn't there.  Later in the note, she got the
note we left when we dropped by and she called us.  We met with her and
on my goodness, the most prepared, solid, amazing person I've met on
my mission.  She is Catholic (not really), she has a boyfriend at Snow
College in Utah.  He gave her a Book of Mormon, she read it all, then
she read all of the Doctrine and Covenants, then she read all of the
Pearl of Great Price!  She said, "The Book of Mormon and this gospel has
filled those empty parts of my soul, and I know that this is all true,
and I want to be baptized"... I was like, did you just pull a Preach
my Gospel answer on me?  She came to church on Sunday and the ward just
was head over heals for her.  She is super enthusiastic and outgoing.
All of the ladies were hugging her, and she must have felt like a
celebrity.  She will be baptized on the 26th.

We had a Stake Meeting with the Stake Presidency and the Mission
Presidency Sunday morning eeaaaarlllyyyy, and as we were going through
our monthly reports, they stopped at one of the names of someone in our
ward, Brother Szary.  He had come out with us 27 times in the month of
October and was present in 45/130 lessons in October which is amazing.  He
came out the most of every member in the Stake, but also the
entire Philadelphia Pennsylvania mission.  Our Stake President, Vai
Sikahema (former Eagles player), got up and bore his testimony in
Sacrament directly towards how thankful he was for Brother Szary, so
did I as well.  He is incredible.

This week, one of the families that we have been working with came to
us in need of a blessing.  We have reactivated the mother and she is
super amazing, love her tons, and she called us and asked if we could
give her oldest son a blessing.  He was super nervous for one of his
tests to become a police officer, so we came over and I gave him a
blessing.  He told me after the blessing that all of his fear, him
being nervous and bad feelings, had gone away and he was in tears just
so thankful.  The next day for the first time, the whole entire family
came to church and the mother was just so thankful.  I sat by them
during sacrament.  It was so good to see them.

I would like to share a few scriptures that I have read that have
really stuck out to me this week.
Luke 22:39-44

"And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and
his disciples also followed him.
And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter
not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down,
and prayed,
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as
it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

In a moment of agony and distress, the Savior himself cries out to his
father pleading for help and strength and asks if there is any other
way that this suffering could take place, but in the midst of all of
this he humbles himself to the dust of the earth, tells his father if
it is HIS will, he will do it.  How often in our lives when we go
through a hard time or are stressed, we put ourselves first and not
God?



The last sentence says his "sweat was as it were great drops of
blood."  Have you ever thought that your name was written in those drops
of blood?  What are we going to do to make sure those drops of blood do
not go in vain?  The price has already been paid; whether we accept and
utilize this great gift and show our thanks by our actions is
completely dependent on us, not others nor our circumstances.

There is a great scripture in the Book of Mormon that also teaches us
a tad bit more about this experience - Mosiah 3:7-8

"And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst,
and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death;
for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his
anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.
And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of
heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning."

He has suffered and has taken upon himself all of our temptations,
pains, hungers, thirst, fatigue - everything so that we don't have to
be on our own, so that he can walk with us supporting us one moment to
the other.

Happy November, love y'all.

Elder Wilde



🌺Enjoying my Jersey Weather🌸 :)

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