Week 97 - June 26, 2017

Hello!

Keeping it short and simple this week.

Teresa got baptized.  She is amazing.

I got my flight itinerary -- my heart dropped!
We have been working with less active and inactive members and we had
  ten of them came to church yesterday -- AMAZING!
The senior couple here in Wilkes-Barre is the best -- literally love them.
I had interviews with President this week - I love that man.  He is amazing.

ALL IS WELL.

Just live the gospel and you'll be happy -- til next week.

In faith,
Elder Wilde

Week 96 - June 19, 2017

Hola,  #FinalFour

All is well.

Teresa is on fire again - she is hyped for her baptism on Sunday. 

We got a new senior couple in Wilkes Barre - where were you when you needed you two months ago...?!!  They in two days have already been so helpful.  Their son is actually the Director of Missionary Work at the MTC and I went out teaching with him when I was an Assistant.  It was cool, now his parents are my senior couple!  Small world!

Elder Sandberg is a stud.  We are having a great time. 

We had 11 people at our Book of Mormon class this week - it was awesome.  It was interesting.  I noticed something I hadn't noticed before as I read.  When Nephi and his brothers were commanded to go get the brass plates from King Laban in Jerusalem, they at first decided who would go up by casting lots -- leaving it up to chance.... that failed.  The second time they brought all of their wealth with them in hope to exchange the plates for their gold and silver -- that failed too.  The THIRD time Nephi followed the Spirit.... the task was accomplished.  It just goes to show that luck/chance/wealth cannot accomplish the purposes of God -- only the Spirit can. 

We have mostly been focusing on bringing back less actives/inactives.  We have seen some great progress! 

We had a mission conference this week with Elder Kipsochki (not sure how to spell it) of the Seventy.  He was great.  I had a neat experience - well kind of, but that's for another time! 

We are staying pretty darn busy.  I'm not sure how its mid-June already, but alright.

I read a devotional by Elder Oaks from October 2003 about timing --

“The issue for us is trusting God enough to trust also His timing.  If we can truly believe He has our welfare at heart, may we not let His plans unfold as He thinks best? 

Proclaiming the gospel is His work, not ours, and therefore it must be done on His timing, not ours.  There are nations in the world today that must hear the gospel before the Lord will come again.  We know this, but we cannot force it.  We must wait upon the Lord’s timing. He will tell us, and He will open the doors or bring down the walls when the time is right.  We should pray for the Lord’s help and directions so that we can be instruments in His hands to proclaim the gospel to nations and persons who are now ready—persons He would have us help today. The Lord loves all of His children, and He desires that all have the fullness of His truth and the abundance of His blessings.  He knows when groups or individuals are ready, and He wants us to hear and heed His timetable for sharing His gospel with them.

If we have faith in God and if we are committed to the fundamentals of keeping His commandments and putting Him first in our lives, we do not need to plan every single event—even every important event—and we should not feel rejected or depressed if some things—even some very important things—do not happen at the time we had planned or hoped or prayed.  Commit yourself to put the Lord first in your life, keep His commandments, and do what the Lord’s servants ask you to do.  Then your feet are on the pathway to eternal life. Then it does not matter whether you are called to be a bishop or a Relief Society president, whether you are married or single, or whether you die tomorrow.  You do not know what will happen.  Do your best on what is fundamental and personal and then trust in the Lord and His timing."

In faith, 

Elder Wilde 

Week 95 - June 12, 2017

Hello!

Well, I'll keep it short and simple these next few weeks!
Teresa didn't get baptized this week - but she will be baptized on the 24th.
Latoya, Sariah, and Alexis went to Philly for the summer which is SUpER
unfortunate.
Maurice is like the smartest kid I know - we had dinner with him at
the Bishop's house this week.  He's doing well!
 
We met a new lady, Belinda.  She's 25, has 5 kids, and will have another
one in three weeks.  She's super cool and excited to learn.
We have been working with a less active family named the Browns - they
all came to church this Sunday which was great.
I organized (I don't even know what the right verb/word is for it) a
garden this week.  It was pretty hot.  It was lots of fun though -
well... something like that.

I read a great talk this week --
"Attached to his memo was a “Peanuts” cartoon that pictured Linus
standing with a nice, firm snowball in his hand as Lucy enters the
picture.  She surveys the situation and makes this comment to Linus:
“Life is full of choices.  You may choose, if you wish, to throw that
snowball at me.  You also may choose, if you wish, not to throw that
snowball at me.  Now if you choose to throw that snowball at me, I will
pound you right into the ground!  If you choose not to throw that
snowball at me, your head will be spared.”
Then Linus, throwing the snowball away with a disgusted look on his
face, said, “Life is full of choices, but I never get any.”
 
Linus is right that life is full of choices.  But I have found him to
be wrong in the second part.  Decisions are before us every step of the
way.  Richard L. Evans said in the film, "Man’s Search For Happiness:
“Life offers you two precious gifts. One is time, the other, freedom
of choice--the freedom to buy with your time what you will. You are
free to exchange your allotment of time for thrills. You may trade it
for base desires.  You may invest it in greed.  You may purchase with it
vanity; you may spend your time in pursuit of material things. Yours
is the freedom to choose.  But these are not bargains, for in them you
find no lasting satisfaction."

 
Life is all just a choice.  We chose to come here, we choose what we do
while we are here, and we in large part - choose where we want to end
up.  Choose you this day whom ye will serve.

Love,
Elder Wilde

Week 94 - June 5, 2017

Hello!
 
Wow, cannot believe for a second that it is ALREADY June...... my last
full month of service as a full time missionary.  It is going to be a
very busy month as well!
 
Everything is going well here in North Eastern Pennsylvania.  We had a
pretty busy week.
 
Teresa is prepared to be baptized on Saturday!  She is SOO on top of it
- she's going to be so great.  She seriously is a hoot and a half,
reading the Book of Mormon with her is SO fun.  She has so much
energy.
 
Latoya is acting... different.... but her kids are still doing really well.
We had a really good lesson with them - it is so fascinating listening
to them pray from where they were to now where they are... it's always
my favorite part of the lessons, hearing them pray.
 
Maurice is doing well.  He is a handful for sure, but he is SO smart for
a 12 year old.... he read the children's Book of Mormon one night for
an hour.... he's solid.
 
Elder Sandberg is doing well - it's been really cool to see him develop
as a missionary - especially his teaching skills.  We spend a lot of
time role playing and practicing, and it is the most rewarding thing
being able to look back at the beginning and see where he is now.  We are
getting buckets together, too, 26-0 here in WB, lol good times.
 
This weekend we had Stake Conference and it was phenomenal.  Our Stake
Presidency and our Mission President spoke - they all did an
incredible job.  I feel like the theme was at least in my mind to quote
President Monson:  "Your future is as bright as your faith."  I
absolutely love that quote -- everything - our joy, our success, who
we are, what we do, etc., is all dependent on our faith.  It empowers us
to act and do things but even more importantly it changes us and
allows us to become the person God intends us to become.  In the words
of Dallin H. Oaks:  "The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the
gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly
account.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to
become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become."

I read something fascinating this week in my studies:  “People are not
better off when they are given maximum personal freedom to do what
they want.  They’re better off when they are enshrouded in commitments
that transcend personal choice--commitments to family, God, craft and
country.”
 
Life is all about making and keeping covenants that bind us to God.
God's commands will always be strict but will never be restrictive.
Commandments and covenants, if lived, will liberate us from the world.

In Faith & With Love,
Elder Wilde