Baptism, Moths, and Boas

So as you may have heard its a little humid in Puerto Maldonado, and my District Leader said he had to throw away his suit because it was fungisized!! so when I got back that night I checked my suit and it had mold on it!  I was a little freaked out but I cleaned it off, its really disgusting if stuff sits  it grows mold. There's always a little on my ties, and pants, and on my shirts . I cleaned everything and made a schedule to rotate and clean all my clothes every week so I don't lose everything, 

   Elder Rivera and I are doing well, but I can't say that about the apartment.   A piece of concrete fell out of the wall onto my bed right next to my pillow, and a water leaked over my bed all night during a really strong rainstorm. The roof is solid concrete and there are 3 more levels above us go figure on that one. And all the paint is cracking on the walls from the water. 

    We get a gecko and giant moths every so often in our room. Our teaching is going good, this is the end of my first transfer. Eduardo accepted baptism for the 28 of March, we're going to keep working with him. We are trying to refocus into the zona urbana to have more people in the city proper. 

   Its really good to have good member cooperation with the missionaries. To have leaders and members that care about the work is essential. 

   So this week I had a work visit with the District Leader and in the morning I felt the need to study lesson 2 The Plan of Salvation more in depth. I studied for my whole study time and wasn't sure why. I had already studied it, but hadn't taught it yet. then that night after dinner we taught a family almost the entire lesson!  I was able to pretty much be a normal missionary ping ponging point for point with Elder Harmon (District Leader) the lesson went very good and yesterday the husband asked for how to get a hymn book, triple, and Bible !

   In closing I would recommend studying Preach My Gospel as a family. Don't just read it, study it, mark it up, write in the columns.  Read the scriptures and practice teaching the points in each lesson. I know you will learn more about the gospel and be better prepared to share it with people. 

Yes, Eduardo will be baptized on march 28! He is the best.  We're going to help him build part of his house,  It's weird how accustomed I am to heat 80 degrees feels cold now.

So I baptized my first person the other day, because the Hermanas (sister missionaries ) had a baptism but the person that was going to baptize the kid couldn't be there so I had to hurry and get my clothes to baptize him. It went good, I didn't mess up or anything.

 It was my District Leader's last transfer so we had a little party for him in the capilla (chapel) with cake.

That's me holding a Boa Constrictor.  It felt so weird, it was super freaky. The guy said, "Don't squeeze it too hard or it will tense up" me :"what happens when it tenses up?" him: "It kills".  It felt super muscular

So we were in our room and this giant moth flew and and tried to "kill" me, I pretty much turned into Elder Burton Guster for 5 minutes. Running around yelling 'get it off me Shawn' and screaming. That's Elder Rivera after I nailed it with our broom out of the air. 

Elder Wilde

A sad but productive week...

Note from LaDawn:

On Tuesday February 10th Bill's father passed away at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, California.  From the hospital, Bill called Michael's Mission President to tell him that Michael's grandfather had passed away.  President Harbertsen phoned Michael to tell him and gave Michael the option of  calling home by Skype to talk to his family about the passing of his grandfather.

Michael Wrote:

When I got a call from President Harbertsen it was almost like the chaplain coming to the door, I knew what it was about as soon as he started to talk. I could tell it was hard for him, that's probably a tough part of being a Mission President, telling young people that type of news, he was very kind . When I was talking to him I told him that I knew that in one year to the day his temple work would be done, and that he is a smart guy and would accept the gospel. I cried the most I ever cried before and I was very sad, but after I Skyped (home) I had more of a better feeling and was able to carry out the day normally. In my journal I wrote down everything I could remember and I cried more thinking about all the stuff he said and did. 

    I wish I was there at the funeral, I would have liked to talk (at the funeral)  The graveside service seemed very nice with the honor guard and the flag, and taps and the flyover. I was writing in my journal about my last visit with him and was about to write that was the last time I'll see him, but I stopped because I know I will see him again and this is just a temporary separation. I also remembered when it was just me and him sitting in his room for an hour while (Dad was) meeting with customers and we were talking and I could see he was crying while we were talking, Then I thought he was sad to see me leave the country. Now I realize he probably knew that it would be the last time he saw me alive just like we figured. 

The next day I searched through a giant stack of Liahonas (Church magazines) and found the only English one to read. The First Presidency message was about coping with death through the power of the Atonement. It was very profound for me and touched me to the core. I have gained a firm testimony over the past week.  

I am sad but I will carry on, and continue to bring souls unto Christ.

Save me a Cleveland Indians hat or a Browns jacket (of Grampie's). 

Wow that sounds like the funeral went good, I was thinking about that a lot on Saturday,That is good to have the family together like that, it doesn't happen too much. Gosh I would kill for some Harry's Hofbrau or just normal food at this point!! Send me a picture of my (missonary) plaque I would like to see it!!  

   At this point we only have one investigator that is close Eduardo, he received an answer and is very excited. He told someone else he was going to be baptized and para mi I see that as a sign he will accept our baptismal invitation.

    So for teaching the Restoration and parts of the Plan of Salvation I usually teach parts of it along with como comenzar enseñar. If it's a really unique message to the person, like a struggle they have or its a more advanced lesson I usually don't speak until I bear my testimony at the end. My Spanish is coming along good, I am learning a lot of Spanish. My least favorite thing is talking to people on the phone it sucks haha;  really bad connection + fast/slurred Spanish + me learning Spanish is not a good combo at all!! It has happened like 3 times that people have called while my companion is showering. I kinda just say he's gonna call back in 5 minutes. 

I held a Parrot the other day it was really cool!! its claws kinda hurt though. After this we're going to the Serpentario (snake zoo?) so next week I'll have pictures of me holding Anacondas and Boas and all that cool stuff.  (Note from Bill:  My father hated snakes.  His least favorite species of snake worldwide was the Anaconda.  He would shudder when they were shown on TV).

Love,

Michael

(Elder Wilde)

        

Como se Llama (or Alpaca)?

Hola, I went to Lima with other missionaries and we drove back in a bus. We made good time, last week the zone leaders took 14 hours because of a landslide on the highway. Yeah we have several good investigators and the president wants us to talk to more families. So this week I had my first work visit where the district leader goes 24 hours with every missionary. I went with his companion for one day. I was scared because he is only 1 transfer older (been a missionary for 6 weeks longer) than me and we both don't speak Spanish it went good that day. but before we left my apartment he tried to throw an Aguaje (fruit) out of the window and he shattered our window!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily an investigator works at a window company and we got it fixed without involving our landlord. 

                                                   My area "Pueblo Viejo" from on a hill

                                          ants have wings and are giant and bite you here!!!!!

 Thanks for the pictures voy a imprimir (I'll Print). Today we were walking and heard this commotion and there was like a riot in front of the court building a bunch of riot gear and soldiers. I knew it was bad when I saw a police convoy going to the square full of soldiers. I hear they get mad easily here. One of my favorite things is when we are walking on a hot day and people yell Elders¡ and give us some soft drinks. 

 It's going good here, I got my mission bag with my name its pretty cool, I always have my church issued poncho with me.

We taught about 30 lessons last week, This week we had 80 people in sacrament meeting. I don't know how many youth attend but only a handful. 

Thanks for the pictures. I'm going to print them today at a foto place. lo siento ( I am sorry) I don't have much time because all the other cafes were full and we had to walk a ways . So every Saturday we teach an ingles class, in the middle of class the power went out. We evacuated the building.  Puerto always has rolling blackouts,  I gave a talk in sacrament meeting again this time about mission work, it was tough because I barely had time to great ready. I read lots of scriptures.  

                                              ¡Bienvenidos de Cusco Perú! #llamapic

Hasta Semana   

ELder Wilde

An Eventful Week

 I'm glad I am fine too but first HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM HAVE A GOOD BIRTHDAY!!! DRINK LOTS OF ROOT BEER FOR ME!!!  send me some birthday pictures next week. We eat at pensions (room and board) but this morning we opted to not go to our breakfast pension because it wasted time so we'll probably buy lots of milk and cereal. It'll be better.. We eat MASSSIVE amounts of rice mom like get one of our big white plates and cover the entire thing with rice and then plop some carne (meat) on it. That's a basic recipe here. We're teaching a couple people,  Oliver, Joselyn, Randy, Miriam, Brayan, Naomi.  they all have (Anglo) names but there Peruvian .we haven't gotten to far in the directory to be honest we got it as a reference. Yes I did get your package and I opened the cookies last night. Scrumptious. I also got a card from Julie when I was in Cuzco Friday. I have seen His Hand in our work here.

 I went to Cuzco and Lima last week. It was really difficult. We found out Tuesday and we left Wednesday by bus to Cuzco and on Thursday I flew to Lima to get my ID (Peru) then flew back to Cuzco. Friday we drove back to Puerto Maldonado all day. I don't think there's a car ride in the states that can bother me now. The Andes are really beautiful, I would send pictures but the USB port on this machine doesn't function!! The other day I was a little grumpy and getting mad, so i stopped and thought back to this phrase 'salvation never was a cheap experience' this is about what the Saviour suffered for us and how whatever I go through will be microscopic compared to His Suffering. That got me out because it made me realize how dumb it is to complain or be mad. 

 The other day we taught a family of investigators (person missionaries are teaching )and I taught about the apostasy and other sections but I was talking a lot and showing this picture I drew about the columns of Christs church, and finished with my testimony. At the end the hermana (sister) said, 'Èl quiere decir mucho pero èl no puede' and she said it was brave to leave our country and families, to come to Puerto and to learn spanish and teach people. I called this bearing a silent testimony, Because I tried my best to teach the truths and the spirit still testifies if its pronounced wrong.  Like the other day I goofed saying a prayer and the person was like Elder its alright the spirit understands what you mean to say.

 We have an investigator con fecha (with date for baptism) for march hopefully he progresses well. I finally got diarrhea medicine and now i haven't pooped for 4 days but I feel fine otherwise. Last pday (preparation day) I got a banana split and it left me about 20 minutes later, but it sure tasted good!! I'm gonna go get milkshakes with other elders, go to the zoo, and probably play fùtbol.

I'll send pics next week 

Hasta semana

Elder Wilde