Hello, everyone!
We are already on our way here in December! This week has been pretty hectic.
I had to say
goodbye to New Jersey. After one of our meetings, our Mission President
asked if I could come and help fulfill a new assignment as one of his
assistants. I am pretty nervous but also excited to learn from my new
companion and the Mission President.
My new area covers
part of my old stomping grounds - South Philadelphia! I will be in the
Philadelphia YSA and will be meeting in the chapel next to the temple. I
am super thrilled. Yesterday after Stake Conference, I left Cherry Hill
basically right after and went to Philly. It was fast Sunday and I went
up and bore my testimony and just added to what one of the men on the
stands said. I said, "I am thankful for what this brother (I leaned over
to ask for his name and he said, "Bishop") excuse me, Bishop! had to say
about ..." Everyone was laughing, it was pretty funny.
I got to see a bunch of people from the first place I served. It was so awesome to see them all again!
My new companion
is incredible. His name is Elder Winstanley. He is from Colorado and has
been out two transfers longer than I have. He is a super good ball
player, but I'll teach him a few things ;) however; every time we play he
breaks my ankles to one degree or another. He did this morning, it was
bad. We are in a trio right now with an elder named Elder Oldroyd (he is
who I am replacing) he is from Arizona. He is the most humble person
out there wow.
I definitely feel
inadequate and there are so many others that would be able to fulfill
the position better then I would, but I definitely will do my best. The
first big test is next week. We have 35 departing missionaries and 30
coming in.... yikes!
We had a baptism
right after church for a young lady named Kendyll. She is seriously
incredible. She is from Alabama and attends Villanova. She belonged to
the Church Of Christ but left it after her brother did. She was about to
give up on religion, etc., when she then found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a
friend. She said it is the best thing that has ever happened to her in
her life. Next week, we will have a baptism for a girl named Felicity. She is 22 and an accountant for a local hospital here in Philadelphia. She is originally from Las Vegas but moved out here and she is just
absolutely in love with the church. The Philly YSA is ELECTRIC! I was
amazed at all of these young single adults.
Anywho.... I'm
going to miss Cherry Hill a lot. I had such an incredible four months
here and it went by in the blink of an eye. I was so blessed to see
Beena, Jack, and Michelle enter the waters of baptism. They changed my
life! I will forever remember them. I was so blessed to have been able
to work along side with some of the mission's bests - Elder Holden &
Elder Lake.
I told Ben Rong,
our Chinese investigator, that I was leaving to Philadelphia and he said,
"That's not far! Wherever you go, I go! You are my brother!" So I am
excited to continue to work with him and have him come to Philly YSA.
We had a great week.
We took our recent
convert, Jack to the temple. That was an incredible time. He was able
to be baptized for four of his ancestors. Truly remarkable experience. I
love being inside of the temple and I learned a lot of new things about
the temple this week. In one of our leaderships meetings on Friday, we
had the temple president (who also was a former mission president and
stake president) come and speak to us. After the deeper doctrine part
about the temple, he told us, "We go to the temple to find out who we
really are, and when we find out who we really are, the adversary has no
power of us." I know we know the doctrine that we are a Child of God, but
do we know that is who we truly are deep down inside? Only the temple
can truly teach us that.
Along with the Temple President visiting us, we had the chief executive of missionary
work worldwide come and present to us as well.
Along with the
temple president and the chief executive of missionary work, we had the
mastermind behind all of the holiday videos that the church produces
come and speak to us as well.
Along with the
temple president, the chief executive of missionary work, and the
mastermind behind the holiday videos, we had the whole mission presidency
and mission leaders right across the street from the temple. It must
have been one of the most powerful meetings I have ever sat in.
Along with that
incredible meeting, we then had an adult stake conference session on
Saturday and then a stake conference on Sunday.
Our stake
presidency here in New Jersey is LEGIT. They get work done and literally
Saturday night looking around the room, I was in awe with how amazing
and powerful the members of the church are. President Sikahema (for real Eagles player) talked about how he and Scott O'Neal (current CEO of
76ers) discussed how during the temple cultural celebration they both
said that THE CHURCH is the GREATEST organization in the entire world.
It will train, teach, and discipline you better and faster then any IV
league school in the nation (coming from someone who went to Harvard
business program). I looked around the room and it was amazing to see
how well rounded each individual was. I am amazed as I listen to the
leaders of the church who were former businessmen, doctors, lawyers,
some of the smartest people in the entire nation and they left it ALL
behind to serve the Lord. Our former mission president was the CEO of
a major company worth billions of dollars. He received a call from church
headquarters one day and they asked him to serve as a mission president
(which would mean he would have to quit his job). He accepted the call
to be a mission president, and a few of his coworkers were not too happy
that he picked that over his career. Days before he was to leave for
Philadelphia, he told a story about how GERMANY (yes the country) called
and said that if he resigned, they would drop their contract (millions
and millions of dollars) with the company. He discussed how he said to
them that his choice was final a long time ago.
Well, apparently as assistants you don't get too much of a pday, so I think we will be off running some errands.
Love you all!
My new address is: 721 Paxon Hollow Rd., Suite B, Broomall, PA, 19008
Elder Wilde
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