What a brisk week it was here in Phila. We are expecting some huge
storms this week, apparently two feet of snow. Last year, we had, I
believe, 14 inches, so this time it's going to be a lot more!
This week was pretty chaotic. It was transfer week, so there was so
much going on. We finished a total of 100 missionaries' transfer plans on
Monday night, and then on Tuesday, transfers took place.
Tuesday night we had the departure meeting for all of our departing
missionaries.
Wednesday we all woke up at 4AM to drive the departing missionaries to
the airport, and then at 4 PM, we went and picked up the new missionaries
from the airport.
Thursday we had a big meeting where all of the new missionaries got
their trainers.
Friday we had our Mission Leadership Council.
It was lots of fun!
Tai is still reading the Sok Mun Mon (Book of Mormon)
Tom got his temple recommend.
This week we met a man named Joseph who is from Ghini, Africa. He
lives in southwest Phila. We walked into his house and he had this
HUGE tiger fur coat on. It was awesome. I'm trying to get one :) I'll
make sure to get a picture next time.
He wants to be baptized. He told us a lot about what's going on in
West Africa right now and I was just sitting there with my jaw down to
the floor listening... we are so blessed to live in the United States.
He came to church with such a great outfit on - also should have
taken a picture. Dang, I'm slacking.
Elder Andrus and I have been teaching these two members of the church
every Sunday night. They are so great. They are both freshman and one
goes to Temple University the other goes to Drexel. Yesterday we had a very
pivotal moment and one of them said he now wants to serve a mission,
and so he called the Bishop and will now be starting his mission
papers, pretty exciting!
We read part of this talk that he really liked and I'll just attach a
bit from the talk. It's entitled, "Your Four Minutes."
"Before you were born, you existed as a spirit. In the presence of a
loving Heavenly Father, you trained and prepared to come to earth for
a brief moment and, well, perform. This life is your four minutes.
While you are here, your actions will determine whether you win the
prize of eternal life.
I urge you to ponder, 'What do I need to do next to ensure my medal?'
Perhaps during this conference, the Spirit has whispered to you what
that may be: to prepare more thoughtfully for an ordinance in your
future or to receive an ordinance that you should have received a long
time ago. Whatever it may be, do it now. Don’t wait. Your four minutes
will pass quickly, and you’ll have eternity to think about what you
did in this life."
I had one other unique experience this week - long story short, we
told our ward mission leader he should call our dinner appointments
and invite them to have friends over while we were at dinner, so he
did. On Thursday night, we went to Joy's place for dinner. Sure enough
she had two friends over. I got there, took my shoes off, walked into
the kitchen, and this young women turned around saw my face and dropped
a very colorful word and I was so confused. Anyways, we went to 5th
grade to 9th grade with each other in Shanghai. We weren't really
friends, but I knew her a little bit. We reminisced about Shanghai and
she asked me so much about what it's like to be a missionary, etc. We
don't share the same religious beliefs, she is actually atheist, but I
was able to share with her what I believed and it was a really great
experience. I think she must have used the line, "You have changed so
much," at least 50 times while I was there. I think every time I
replied, "That's what the gospel will do to ya."
Elder Wilde
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