Mother's Day

We were able to speak to Michael on Mother's Day (via Skype).  Alex, Bianca & Sawyer were over and we also had Laura & Kenny on skype from Provo, Utah  and Julie and Brenton on Skype from Las Vegas, Nevada. It was great to see and talk to Michael.  He loves his mission and enjoys where he is serving. Since we spoke to him for a long time he only sent us a brief message on his P-day:

Wow that food sounds so good yummy!!!( referring to his Mother's delicious Mother's Day Dinner of Sauteed Shrimp, Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed squash). It's still true the best tasting thing I've had in Puerto was the Girl Scout Cookies!!  Sawyer is giant my companion was surprised he's like that baby is gigantic; It's impossible . Now that Eduardo is back I really want to get working with him again. Honestly I kind of wanted to get out of Puerto this change for various reasons but now I want to stay.

                                                Me at the Plaza de Armas (Parade Ground)

I'll try my best with my heart, might, mind, and strength.

Love,

Elder Wilde

Parable of the Talents

There is a rumor going around that an Apostle is coming in June to our mission!!! Because the Trujillo Peru Temple gets dedicated so the Authorities might tour some missions. 

Yes I have the package and I'm eating it slowly. Girl Scout Cookies are the best tasting thing I've had in Puerto. 

So about Eduardo, last pday we were in a mototaxi and I thought I saw him so we went back and searched the area another day and then we found him!!! We talked and made a appointment, and then he dropped off the face of the earth again. He is our baptism goal for May, we're trying hard.  

It's weird I've lost my appetite almost completely, I barely eat, like I fasted 24 hours and I wasn't hungry, only super thirsty!!!! I think it's the rice, it's just a mind killer, I'm dropping weight from living in a sauna, and eating less. 

For a family in Triunfo, in a lesson I suggested a date for them to get married (so they can get baptized) and committed them to pray about it. It's very difficult the Hermana (sister) has a lot of fear to get married. After I said my part she said she knows god wants her to get married. I responded then why aren't you doing it. and she was like (darn), I guess we should get married and the boyfriend   was like I'm fine with it. Its really good progress for them and they said that I'm gonna be the Padriño (godfather) to their new kid!!!!

Puerto rocks I just don't know how much time I have left, because i don't want to go to the Sierras soon.

This Saturday we helped a family get their 8 year old daughter Reina baptized.  The baptism went normal in Puerto about 4 hours long. The water came out of the thing super dirty, we tried to fix it and finally the dad said it's OK, it's water, no ones gonna die from it. I gave a little talk about the holy ghost there and it went real good.

A different family the mom asked us last week to bring a special message for her son because he doesn't want to study in college, he wants to drive big trucks. She explained the situation, and that night in the room, I suddenly thought of the parable of the talents!! We went and shared that, I think he understands the message, and we explained the glory of god is intelligence, and who doesn't want that? The mom and the son are  members and the rest are investigators. We're probably going to help the mom come to church more often and baptize the rest of the family. The 10 year old boy told his mom voy a ser Elder ( I want to be an Elder).  Its real good progress. he came to church by himself yesterday for the 3 hours!! his name is melvin. 

There's a lot of work to do here and the days are flying by.

Love Elder Wilde

Talent, Packages & Construction

I'm making a list of advice for Grant about what he can do to start a mission in Peru on the right foot. So one other big thing that happened this week is that we threw a branch talent show, and all the organizations had to participate, I was a little nervous for it, but in the end it turned out pretty good. Everyone was laughing and having a good time by the end, and I would call it a success. 

We still haven't found Eduardo and we went to the Triunfo and went door to door for hours with no luck. We gotta find him soon. Yeah about my shoes its a little tough to keep them clean... its all mud in Pueblo Viejo.

THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE ITS THE BEST, I GOT MUSIC NOW TO work out to and candy!! I was so happy when I saw the Zone Leaders with packages, I got all my candy in the fridge, and I'm sharing the joys of Girl Scout Cookies with my companion.

We're trying real hard down here, but there is a lot of work to do and not enough of us! We are looking to try to help the Branch but its tough. This week we went and helped at the contruction of a preschool down in Pueblo Viejo. We helped one of our investigators who was in charge.  I got all the Elders in the Zone there to help them out. It was some tough work, We were all dripping sweat it's like working in a steam room,wearing jeans haha we went there for two days and worked with them and we will work more in the future.

The mission is the best I wouldn't want be in another place right now.

Elder Wilde

Eduardo where are you?

We went back to teach that family a (great) lesson we had prepared but when we got there the dad was called away for special service and the mom was in the hospital!!  we came back later and talked to the mom and she gave us a reference to a family that she said really needed to hear the message of the gospel. And we found out that she gave a reference to the old missionaries that led to a rescue and a baptism!! We are trying our best with them.

 Yeah my Spanish is improving pretty good now that I only speak Spanish. I'm the only person in the branch that speaks English now!!! In my branch here we had  about 80 people in sacrament meeting. They are working to be a ward. We are still searching for Eduardo and it's starting to worry me, we are going to redouble our efforts this week to find him. 

A kid in a lesson said a closing prayer and he said please bless the family of Elder Wilde!! And also for the first time a member came up to me and asked when can I come visit families with you guys? He is super cool and we visited a lot of families and he showed us some I didn't know before. It's good to have people to break the ice. As a missionary I know the difficulties. But mom you can ask the missionaries when can I come visit with you guys and they will be stoked!! it's probably more common at home but it meant a lot to me when the person did it.

                                         Thus picture is me and my companion Elder Segura,

These pictures are of me cutting up a Castaño Coco with a machete, It's pretty much giant almonds inside, I think I'm going to buy a machete cause they're super useful here.

 A gringo came to church last week, he is from Lodi, CA but has lived in Ecuador for 15 years. It was fun talking about home and he took us out to dinner the next day. He was a super cool guy.

Oliver got a job working on the highway so now hes gone most the week but he's doing good. He showed up to church with a super high fever and refused to go to the hospital and everyone was just like, Elder Wilde you are not his mom he just needs to go drink some coco water, relax`.  I got a list of (converts) for the past 2 years and made a statistical report of the numbers and it was not good. I'm now making a rescue plan to go get them all.   It was a good week, I'm getting to know my companion better and I'm picking up Spanish. we also made some progress on some eternal investigators, 

 Love, Elder Wilde

looking forward to the 10th (Mothers Day when he can call home)

Important Lessons

 My new companion is from Argentina, its been good, he doesn't speak English so I have been speaking Spanish a lot lately ! haha My companion got in Wednesday night on the bus.. We have been trying to meet with Eduardo but we have had a hard time finding him. He doesn't have a cell phone, and the city is big. 

Gosh I'm so happy about Grant. I know a bunch of missionaries in Iquitos and from what I heard its a blast!!  To go between zones they use airplanes because highways don't exist!!!!  and their super lejos (far). I`ll tell him my CCM (MTC) advice too, I`ll warn my friends he's coming in a while. 

One family we visited this week we were there and the mom said she had problem accepting the Book of  Mormon. We talked for a while and by the end we resolved her questions and she committed to read and pray. At the end she told us, she felt she could trust in us what she really thought because it didn't matter if it was blazing hot or pouring rain, we always came to visit her. She said it was a good Christian example. Again the example when nobody thinks they're watching. This is really good progress for that family. 

In the Zone Meeting I got the envelope from the (Bass Lake Ward) Relief Society, thanks!!! it's always good to get mail, but I guess the package isn't here yet.

The picture is in Triunfo we were going to a community and the combi (bus?)  dropped us off in the freakin' jungle cause they said the road was too bad, so we walked the rest of the way.  

   

The thing here is most people don't go to the hospital , so they die. or are just in a lot of pain. Wow the general (Allan Tuttle) passed on. He was a very great guy , when I knew him in the ward. We always went over and put up Christmas lights and helped him out in his yard, he was always really nice and grateful to us.  

Gosh this week, we didn't have too much time in the sector but one night we went and visited an investigating family. They are legally married which is very rare!!! They always want to talk etc.  This visit the dad sat us down, and said he would like us to prepare a special lesson about the family and how to make it stronger. He explained some more, and when he said," Elder Wilde I'm putting my trust in you to help me fix this mess", I was kinda like whoaaa. I thought for a while and then just started talking. I haven't been in that situation before, but I gave him comfort and advice. I know I was guided to say what I did. He was very grateful for what I shared, and he really wants to make things right and we will help him as best we can.   That was the big thing this week I think, a very profound experience.

I'm trying my best here and hopefully it's enough.  

   

The photo is me and elder Augat trying to fix his phone!!!  It didn't work out in the end but it was fun. yeah that's when I had a cell phone for a week!!! 

 Love you all,

Elder WIlde

Transfers

YEESSSSS!!! Elder Cedeño is going to Concilio in Cuzco this week so hopefully I`ll get my package  super soon!!!   So this week my companion ended his two years, we went around saying bye to people this week. So me and the zone planned a surprise dinner party with todos at 8 and I planned a little FHE at 6 and thought that would be fine... when we got there they had a bonfire and we had grilled bananas  a delicacy here. 

At the end-ish we ate dinner with them and I was trying to get us to leave but Elder Rivera didn't want to because he thought only 2 elders were waiting!!! Then the family brought out 2 cakes for us to have. they had a hard time with my name, the mom saw my plaque and was like " well we goofed bad!!`"  

I went over and whispered to him that the whole zone was waiting and we were 30 minutes late!! He said we would come back in the morning to eat cake with them!! We ran all the way from Pueblo Viejo by the river to the city Arriba and we died!!! the sweat was unbearable I was just dying when we got there and couldn't eat my 2nd dinner or 2nd cake!!  we all had a blast though. We watched the world report and I was looking for Elder Schnell during the USS Missouri piece but I didn't see him. We were all bummed that there's nothing that cool here in Puerto.  I've been zone leader for the week and I will be until my companion gets here. My new companion is Elder Segura he comes here next Wednesday in the night on the bus, its raining pretty good so there may be landslides on the highway.  Last time it rained the leaders took 16 hrs to get to Cuzco for a meeting.  From the Zone Leader emails, my companion Elder Segura is from Argentina and is traveling from Abancay to Puerto. 

Its been fun, now there's other elders where I live and we play cards during meals and chill on our roof.  oh my gosh, there was a hurricane this morning!!!!!!  We had to walk 3 blocks to breakfast and we were all completely soaked through our ponchos and botas (boots), it was so fun, cause the wind was super strong and all the streets were flooding. Well hopefully we`ll do something today, my idea was inner tubing in the giant canals.

We didn't teach to much this week, pday was Monday, We said goodbye to people Tuesday and Wednesday was zone conference all day and Elder Rivera left Friday in the morning. I passed my first April fools day in the mission, with an "emergency transfer to Sicuani" I fell for it for a couple seconds. General Conference was really good we had a scare when the assistants told us we had to watch it in Spanish!!!!  I think everyone complained and president overruled them on that one, we watched it in English and I loved it. What was up with the dissent? I heard yelling and president Uchtdorf acknowledged the vote!! and Richard G. Scott didn't speak and president Monson spoke twice!! All us elders were talking if the prophet was going to talk in priesthood and when he did everyone was relieved.  My temporary companion is  Elder Cedeño he is from Ecuador and he's real funny, our cell phone is a nokia!!!! its a bit of a down grade but it works. I'm doing very well and will be back to my sector Thursday to start working there again.

Love,

Elder Wlde

Oliver's Baptism

Eduardo´s fecha (baptismal date) has been postponed because of problems with his work schedule. Oliver was baptized and it was a very nice service.  The baptism had a nice spirit and I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Oliver was super excited and he was confirmed Sunday.

I think I read the same article in the Liahona but in Spanish! I liked how it teaches like Jesus with questions and examples, I'm sorry for the shortness but we are in a hurry, its my companions last preparation day before he goes home ,

This picture I sent is sugar cane. It's super good, this lady gave me it. You bite off a piece and suck on it  then spit out the fibers. It was super sweet!!!!  Just pure sugar. and we got some Kao Kao (brand of chocolate) and we are going to make chocolate soon-ish.

My companion is fine, but the sister that was in the hospital died in Cuzco last week. The family is super sad.

An idea for the family is to study Mosiah 2-6 this week,  because it was the first General Conference in the Church.  Also I reccommend starting with chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel not chapter 8,  You need to know what to use your time wisely with.

https://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service?lang=eng

 My email had a hard time loading and I got in random only.

On top of an "Obelisk" in Puerto Maldonado, Peru

Love,

Elder Wilde