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

Short but Sweet

We have a good group of people to teach and its always expanding!!!!  I can't imagine teaching through set lessons, the way now is open entirely to the discretion of me and the Spirit.  This week my companion got real sick one night and he went to the hospital with dengue!! I was in the hospital all day waiting around for the doctors to do something.

They are in a constant state of triage. If you have a pulse they give you a number and put you in a chair. The good news is he got better, and we went home late that night. 

I sat for a long time in his room and I read all of Nuestra Búsqueda de la Felicidad (Our Search for Happiness)  by M. Russell Ballard. It was really good. It was a picture book compared to Jesus el Cristo (Jesus the Christ), that's hard to read.  

The next day someone was in the ICU and we went to visit them. We wore scrubs, and all this gear, the lady was on life support it looked like and she had an ¿enfarto? (heart attack)   I have been to the hospital to much recently it's just a depressing place. Hopefully it turns out good but its doubtful... 

It was a full week.

Love, Elder Wilde

Preach My Gospel advice its good to study chapter 8 but like any book its always good to start at the beginning with chapter 1. Mi objetivo  to know the purpose of the book 

Back to Civilization

The whole mission is kind of refocusing back to the core parts, Sectors have closed to bring more missionaries back to the center. This week we did a big service moving 4 yards of dirt for someone and later we talked to a guy and turns out he saw us working and was really impressed and wondered who we were. We went back another day and started teaching him and his whole family 6 in total. It went really good, We are all friends now and he said he felt really good inside during our visit and he wants us to comeback to talk more to his family.  We're both really excited to work with them. 

Our investigators are progressing good, we are teaching them a lot. Sunday I went on splits with a member to teach Oliver. Oliver did accept the baptismal challenge but it was super tentative 

and we don't have a date.

 So the other day we were leaving a city and I really felt like buying ice cream, like my mouth was super dry and I was dying.  I got us to go over to this little shop to buy ice cream and turns out a member lives there and she was really sad and wanted to talk to us, it was really good, and she gave us both Ice Cream!!  Another thing is my old district leader finished his mission last transfer and 

Friday during dinner the pension (landlord) showed us his Facebook because he's engaged now!!!  We all had a little freak out at the table, but we're all happy for him. 

We are teaching a family out in the jungle pretty much where they don't have power, and the dad asked us to help build part of his house, its going to be a big project. .

                                             This picture is us walking back to civilization.

                                                 

The time is going by super fast I'm almost officially trained.

Love,

Elder Wilde

A wise but not a Sloth-ful servant....

Something happened this week, my Quad (Scripture book containing 1) The Bible 2)The Book of Mormon 3) The Doctrine and Covenants and 4) The Pearl of Great Price) kinda died... I haven't used it for a while cause I just use my Spanish scriptures now, and I checked on it one day and there was mold on it and somehow the binding fell off all the way, I'm working on a solution but it's doubtful.  I don't have the paper to read during breakfast anymore so I read the Liahona (Church magazine) now. Its pretty good. Our area goes all the way to Brazil, but we don't go there. We do go across the bridge to Triunfo and we dedicate 2 days a week to being across the bridge to try to get more families there. The other day we were just walking home and a dog tried to bite my ankle!! thankfully I was wearing my rain boots so it bit rubber not slacks, I just kinda shook it off, kicked it and kept walking.  

      

The department (geographic area of Peru) we're in is called Madre de Dios, but I was thinking and I imagine the mother of God to be a lot calmer than this (weather) so I renamed it Madrasta (stepmother) de Dios. The thunder here is intense, it just keeps going in one giant rumble forever. Oh and about water safety, I don't like walking in water, I can never see anything and I never know if I'm going to walk into a drainage ditch or trip on something, also an Anaconda only needs about half a foot of water to conceal itself, and can knock a grown man to the ground in an instant.

So a funny thing  happened in the store.  I found some peanut m&ms so I ran up and asked how much, she said 4 soles, they should be 1 or less. I guess people just think i'm dumb because i'm white, I was just like gracias and put them back on the shelf. Our investigators are doing real good, they're progressing. We taught Eduardo about the commandments this week. When we went to teach Oliver he was explaining the gospel to his cousin, we taught them both. I extended a baptsimal invitation for the first time to his cousin.  I was really nervous.  

 We were just walking and de repente (suddenly) Elder Rivera yelled "Look!" and sprinted! There was an oso perezoso (sloth) trying to cross a busy street. We ran over and moved it out of the street and took pictures with it. 

We are teaching this family and one day to get this kid to be quiet the grandma said I was Peter Parker (from Spiderman). So now the kid always says Hola Peter Parker, Chao Peter Parker, and when he saw me coming last he yelled, "Peter Parker va a venir con sus botas" ( will come with their boots)!!! He is pretty funny for a 2 year old.

                                                       across the river visiting a family

Today we're thinking of going out into the deep jungle to see animals. I'm gonna use my 100 deet bug spray

Love

Elder Wilde