An Unusual "P Day", the Missionary's Day Off

okay quick recap.

I'm writing late because we just got down from a mountain we were up there all day.  We got lost for some hours, but we made it back to Abancay!!!   I'm fine just sunburned and very tired. We got up to 4000 Meters in the hike but we still didn't get to the objective .. search in google earth El Nevado De Ampay, Abancay, Apurimic, Peru.  that's where we were. 

                                                              That's a lake we got too.

Sorry I have no time it's late here. Everything is going good. the papers are all ready for the wedding and it's going to be really good. 

For my birthday I bought ice cream and ate it with my companion in the room.

Elder Wilde

Happy Birthday!!

So the big news is Elida and Javier are planning to get married the 24th of July!!!!!! with his baptism the 25th!!!!!!  We're all super happy here to complete this family. We found out that Elder Uceda (Member of the First Quorum of the Seventy) is coming to Cuzco the 24th of July to talk to all the missionaries. So we don't know if we'll have to reschedule or what. We just hope it'll work out good.  

Another thing we did was a service project, we went to the chacra (farm) of the 73 year old guy in the branch to help him out because its terrace farming!!! real steep and easy to fall as an 18 year old. I learned how to irrigate like an Incan!!! We dug drainage ditches in the hillside, it was crazy cool. Sorry no pictures I didn't bring my camera there :(  and at the end he said he had a reference for us. We went and contacted it with him yesterday, and it was great. The guy said he was busy cause he's cooking, the 73 year old brother said 'papy yo sé cocinar te ayudo papito' and he was trying so hard to get in the door it was so funny. He said us men are good for our word, and your a man and said we could pass by this time.  and in the end he  was like 'soy viejo y esta haciendo un calor terrible, y estoy sudando papito, podemos pasar un ratitio (something like "I'm old and it's hot and I am sweating")?  The guy was kind of a jerk and just kept saying no so we left. But this old guy was way more bold than us, we learned a little from him!!!

Oh and a missionary from the branch left for the mission and there was a farewell, they passed a microphone around to say stuff, there, and so me and my comp went up together said some cliche missionary jokes then said we had to go eat dinner now.

another thing we taught family history yesterday at church and Grampie doesn't show up related to me. Something got unconnected when he passed I think.

thanks for the birthday wishes, it's weird I'll be 19 in a couple days. I'm probably not gonna have a party because here they throw an egg on your head for every year you have... so translation I haven't told anyone. I´ll buy myself something good on Saturday!!¡¡

about shoes how is that progressing??.  don't send inserts unless you already bought them, I decided I don't really need new ones. but for my 2nd year I'll need new ones. 

This week we started teaching a guy alver the restoration, he accepted it all, but he went to work in Andahualyas for a week, so we're going to pick up when he gets back. He's pareja is less active along with her family. 

So this week we were looking for a reference from another branch Las Intimpas, and it wasn't going good because the address was 'the corner by the bus terminal' but we were walking and someone yelled 'Elders!!!' we turned around and this lady was running towards us she is a member from Piura in the north by Ecuador, and is living here in Abancay. Her boyfriend doesn't like the church and doesn't want her to go, but was out working in the mines this day, she told us she saw us from her apartment window walking and ran out to find us, she said she prayed that morning to find the missionaries. I think we talked to her about 45 minutes, about advice and counseling pretty much. She said she'd come to Church with him  and she did and they stayed the whole time!!!  He is pretty closed minded but we've got an appointment Tuesday with them.  And then after we talked in the street we gave up on searching for the reference, and we started to walk up a street then found the guy!! Were gonna start to teach him this week!!

 It's starting to go better in the sector now, my companion  has 4 more weeks left in the mission. so I'll be onto my 4th companion soonish.

Love

Elder Wilde

The Exodus...Moving Day

I  don't have much time but here I go,

This week we had the exodus we moved all our stuff from our old house to the new one.  We called the zone and they didn't approve a moving truck. We were walking and I saw a truck so I went up and made a contract of 15 soles  ($4.75 US) to move us!!!!!  It took 2 ish hours saving 6 with the truck!!! we called it the truck from Heaven!! haha

We moved apartments because President Harbertson came with the assistants to every apartment in the mission and in the end we were told to look for a new apartment. I was so happy,  where we live now is 1,000 times better.  That's a pic when we were getting ready to move, the floor was like a old sailing ship. I think the Balclutha's deck is more level. and it had lots of other interesting aspects to it also.

Last night we fixed our hot shower and I showered with hot water today!!!!!  we've been having bad luck 'fixed' it like 3 times, but just bound the contacts together in the end! its nice not to get a headache from showering now  

This week my companion went to Cuzco for a meeting of District Leaders and he got a cell phone!! That's progress for Cuzco, they say in a year or so all companionships might have one too. 

We are working hard with the new family that we are teaching. We taught the Plan of Salvation Sunday and it went real well. They are probably going to get married in 2 weeks when he comes back if all goes well.

The baptism on the 4th went very well. Jamil and his sister Amelid were baptized and Sunday confirmed. I performed the ordinance for Jamil it was perfect no mess ups!! the service was nice lots of support, we are working with the father It's just a question of his work schedule at this point basically.  With the baptism it was an awesome fourth of July.

In testimony meeting Sunday a bunch of people bore their testimonies in Quechua and it was coolish, but I understood nothing. I can only greet people and super basic stuff. They always try to mess with gringos by speaking Quechua in the streets and then I surprise them with ' allianchu wayki' (the best translation we could find online is "make your meadow better" so who knows what it means) then they laugh and talk in Spanish.

I'm writing later than normal because we went to lunch with the family that we are teaching at a park place. We played volleyball and soccer after a big lunch!!

  

I didn't end up traveling to Cuzco but I helped load up the truck to go to Cuzco, I was in the rain for the first time since I left Puerto this week, but I still haven't sweat since I got on the plane in Puerto. that's in all seriousness.

The belt is nice but not adjustable it has holes. look for missionary belts its some company in Utah that sells them , and send pictures to confirm selection   

I got to run to District Meeting now.

Love,

Elder Wilde

Adios to the Sandbergs

I'm doing well here. The teaching has gotten a little better but not too much. Wow that all sounds good about Jason and the water and stuff, and about the family history. We cant be saved without them and vice versa.  D & C 128.

 The older couple the Sandbergs finish their mission tomorrow and live in LA. I asked if it would be fine for you to go meet them and they said it would be great!! Before you go to LA next; shoot an email to them and say your Elder Wilde's dad.  They're the best!!  He said to tell you he worked to build the Arco Towers in LA. You probably get that.  Very interesting I was reading a Liahona from the 90s the other day and I read something from President Hinckley that said we (the Church) won't get involved in politics, unless there is something about our core moral beliefs, then we would. foreshadowing prop 8 and now.

We're sending all the Sandberg's stuff to Cuzco in a truck and they need 2 elders to go with it.  I may get a vacation soon!!!   A little bit ago the assistants came and inspected our apartment.  We were told to start looking for a new one!!!!!1 YES!!! we move Wednesday!!!!   President Uchtdorf's charla (fireside) was very cool he spoke a little less than an hour.

Peru plays in the semi finals of the Copa America today. So glad I'll be in a District Meeting; not getting rejected by everybody.

This week we had a baptism of Hermano César. He just moved to our branch so Elder Sandberg came and baptized him (he taught him).   It was a very good service. 

This week we also had some lessons with a familia and we went over the baptism interview, and Jamil wants me to baptize him Saturday!!!!!!!  The parent's are working on their marriage papers and when the dad comes back next week we hope they'll get married and the next day the other baptism. So since the Sandbergs were leaving there was a bunch of farewell parties for them this week, in one they sang a hymn in Quechua.

For the closing hymn of the President Uchtdorf fireside the hymn was sung in Quechua by the choir. we're so going to be in conference now!!!! 

He {President Uchtdorf) talked about the descent into Cuzco, and how beautiful and unique it is, That's a pic from one of my descents to Cuzco. it's just crazy landing in the clouds!!!!!

We went to a baptism of another branch to help out and after I was out on the court eating food, and I told this kid to stop messing around, and then he ran up and punched me in the private parts!!!!!! Honest reaction I kicked him over. He was with a group of street kids messing up the chapel. In the end he punched Hermana Sandberg and others, so we removed them from the premises. It reminded me of chasing the goats!!!

Other than that a good week!

Elder WIlde

Temple Dedication

That's good to hear that Julie is sending letters. When she told me that I bought a guardianes de la galaxia notebook to hold mail!!! I 'm still working on the ruins, but last week we went to a museum and it was pretty cool. Bunch of skulls and other stuff.

                                                   part of our zone in the art musuem


Yesterday I watched two sessions of the dedication of the Trujillo Peru Temple and it was super cool!!!!  President Uchtdorf and Elder Bednar came here. When President Uchtdorf went out to seal the corner stone, he was a jokester and was cracking jokes and talking English to the kids, they didn't understand!! It was different seeing him in a non conference setting. He's probably in Cuzco right now. He's having a fireside in the Inti Raymi Stake there and It'll be broadcast to the whole mission. I'm about 95% sure he's going to Machu Picchu tomorrow also.

Yesterday we found out an investigator from another branch is moving to our sector, so we're gonna have a baptism on Thursday!!!!! I'ts going to be great, he's been going for years but just now decided to get baptized.  The other people are on track for their date the 4th of July!!!!!

Our Area President is coming this change, and he's going to quiz us on the Missionary Handbook in the conference ahhhhh!!!!!!

A funny thing happened on the way to the capilla...(chapel)

This week I had a lot of exchanges with other elders. I was leading here in the sector to all the visits and in talking to people. The first one was with Elder Jensen from Spanish Fork.  We went to visit a family and we were talking to the dad in the door. he's not a member and doesn't like the church too much, I was trying to make some small talk and I remembered that someone told me his daughter is in Lima and is going to get married so I was like 'su hija leslie está en lima ahorita, pero se va a casar sí? (Your daughter Leslie is in Lima now but is it getting married) (the dad did not know that yet,,,). him: QUE¡¡¡  QUIEN TE DIJO ESTO PASEN VAMOS A CONVERSAR.  I looked at my companion and he only said,  "they're gonna kill you." We went in and talked and I made up some vina and spoke beginner Spanish to get out of it, one sentence summary. I done goofed bad,  

The week didn't end there. I had another exchange with elder salvatierra limeño a little shorter than Mary. We went to a house and the door was moving and some abueltia  (grandmother) was trying to leave but couldn't open the door. and she was only talking quechua (Indian language) to us, and I'm still learning that. So I was like hey I'll push you up the wall to look over and help out the grandma. When he got done. some old guy came over and started yelling at us calling us ladrones de 'miericoles (thieves) and a bunch of other stuff. I tried to explain It.  He said callate (shut up) gringo and went back to yelling. He said he was going to call the police on us, and then my companion lost it and they had some words with each other. It wasn't going good so I was like we should leave right now. The good news is that in the end he was like' I thought you were Jehovah Witnesses  weren't thieves'  so we were like que bueno él piensa que somos testigos!!!!  summary: Well that escalated quickly.

Those were the highlights of my week pretty much, the sector is getting more and more interesting. 

                                                    that's the church next to the musuem

Love,

Elder Wilde

Working with Part Member Families

 I did some wrangling and I got my shoulder bag and stuff from Puerto today, it's a relief, I left most of my books in my 2nd shoulder bag their.   I could only bring one carry on bag on the plane. I'm so glad I left it in the plane and not bus!!!!!

A family we are teaching  is doing quite well. The dad works 2 weeks in the mine and 1 week rest, this week was his rest so we visited them with a special message. We found out they weren't married when he was away, so we taught the law of chastity. gosh. always goes interesting there, but he understood the message and why it was important, because he wants to get baptized. He was like if all goes good we could be married before the end of the year. His girlfriend was like no, this is something we should have done yesterday! so he revised it to the end of June!!! They're a great family and it's gonna be great day when they go to the temple.

We are trying our best in the sector but it is tough.

P-days are tough. All the Latinos want to do are play fùtbol.  I'm trying to organize a trip to some Incan ruins about 2 hours out of town, for the 6 of July. its called Sawite. I'm not sure if the Latinos will go but we'll just do divisions.

We are trying to work a lot with part member families. The majority of converts are kids that were baptized without parental involvement in lessons. There's a big pool but the fish aren't biting right now.  Honestly our teaching pool isn't doing good, and we don't know why. We're trying but the people won't listen. The worst was when Peru played Brasil en La Copa America. It was like a ghost town here. It was sad; a drunk engaged us yesterday and kept offering us his beer. I told him no because God doesn't want it. He said tell me a word why to change. I said, Jesu Cristo. He went off about his family and started crying and all, we were standing in the middle of the street.  He spilled beer on my companion, but I got out of the way, so we left. He was the only person that wanted to talk to us that day.

So another branch had a baptism, the kid waited 3 years for his dad to give permission. It was a really good service, the best I've seen. A giant turnout. The missionaries sang a special musical number of A Child's Prayer, in English and Spanish. It was super nice.

Wow Sawyer was always super fine chillin' with me, I still got the picture of me and him on  my desk.

About those meters. they aren't to hard to put on. We did those at Greg's i think. Just cut a section of the pipe, slip on the gadget, then they got like to clamp suction thingys on both ends to prevent sinusoidal deplanaration.  Good work with the tank it looks real nice, especially from a preparedness perspective!

This picture  is from our zone meeting today. The older guy is Elder Sandberg, He and his wife are couple missionaries from LA!! They're finishing this change, 

Elder Wilde

Glamour shots by Deb - in Abancay

We were out exploring our sector and got to the river and so we took some pictures. Glamour shots by Deb!   Later we saw a member on the other side in his chacra (farm) and we crossed to go to see him.

That's sad about the Giants they lost to the darn Pittsburg Pirates!!  I heard from my zone leaders here that they accidently sent some of my mail in the office to Puerto! ahh!!

SO in Abancay, my sector Patibamba is sloped pretty much the whole thing and it ends in the river Mariño. Its a lot smaller than my last sector and most of the roads are paved here. Most houses are made of adobe bricks or CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit) blocks. I'm finally using the blanket Alex and Bianca gave me here haha.  My Spanish is going pretty good, I can communicate with anybody and most of the time they understand me. But sometimes they don't try to understand, and after my companion says I said everything correct. But they just see a Gringo so they don't listen.

Lessons are going pretty good. We are opening up the sector pretty much so we have big chunks of nothing in the agenda so we use members a lot to show us around to members, less actives and investigators. We started to teach a new family that we contacted, and I felt real good in the lesson, so we'll see how it goes with them.

Last week we went to a hill overlooking the valley. This is me and my companion Elder Valdivia. He's from Mendoza Argentina and finishes next transfer.

Love Elder Wilde