Week 57 & 58: Prayers!!

I'm so sorry I didn't write last week!! I was struggling to figure out what to write anyways, and I didn't have a lot of time. That week was kind of rough (lowest numbers I've seen my whole mission). The other Elders in the city call us the Berrendo farming system, because literally all we did that week was find golden English contacts and then pass all of them off to the English Elders.

Sad news, is Adilene moved to Mexico (crying emoji). It was sudden too, so we weren't able to say bye. She's going to go to the church's there, and we're just praying that she gets in contact with the missionaries. Please add her to your temple prayer list if you can!

There's another friend we have, his name is Omar! He's married to a member, and his daughter was baptized 2 months ago. He's met with missionaries for 17 years, and comes to church every week with his family, but hasn't gotten baptized. We eat with them every week, but he's hard to get in contact with, but we finally got a good sit down discussion with him. He said he just doesn't believe in Joseph Smith. We talked a lot about the lesson of the restoration, and he's going to start reading the Book of Mormon again, and praying for a spiritual witness. Please pray for him too! One, that he'll receive his witness, and two that he'll act on it.

The biggest struggle we have right now is we need more friends. We're trying, but we haven't been finding very many people. Sorry for asking for so many prayers, but please pray with us that we'll be guided to those who have been prepared for the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A small thing that I've been thinking about this week is faith. Exercising faith isn't a thing we do just when we have gaps in our knowledge/understanding and aren't sure what to do. Faith is the fire that fuels us to keep going when we don't know how. Idk if I said that right, but I've been thinking about Ernest Shackleton, and his story. If you don't know it, go search it up! They basically got stranded in Antarctica for a long long time. It's incredible, and in their situation they had 2 choices. They could choose to have faith, or to despair. Because they had faith, their odds changed, and while all of them should've died, they all made it back home. Faith truly is an incredible power.

- Elder Wride

(Wesley's mom here explaining these panda photos. He said that they had a challenge in their district to share a certain thing on social media, and they were to report back that they did it by posting a video of their companion ship fighting in slow motion. Wes and his comp took it up a notch, by Wes wearing an American flag cape, which he took of for the battle, and also sporting a flag tie and his new Texas boots!)

Week 56: Typical Roswell

Hello everyone!! It was an awesome week! It was kind of crazy though

So there's this guy, I can't remember if I already wrote about him, but his name is Antonio! We found him one night because our plans fell through last minute, and after doing all we could think of in the area, I started driving, and then I saw him standing by his car on the phone. So I flipped around and we went and talked to him. He was on the phone, but I was like "we'll just write a card and hand it to him." But then he hung up and was like "can I help you guys with something?" So we told him we were missionaries for Jesus Christ and he was shocked! He went on about how the fact that we came right then was a sign from God. He took a Book of Mormon, and then we had a lesson with him this week. We gave him a tour of the Church Building and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we did it. We ended in the Chapel, and as we talked he was like "I wanna get baptized." Literally that was our second time talking to him ever, and it was awesome! So we put him on date, and are working towards it!

Another friend were teaching is Emely! We tracted into her mom, who told us to come back another day. When we did, we were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon. Then later we got a text from Emely who said her mom isn't really interested anymore, but that she is reading the Book of Mormon, and wants to learn more. And she got herself a ride to church! Her mom is still fine with her being taught, so that's good! It's always so much fun when someone wants to learn.

Adilene came to church as well, and has really gotten along well with the Ortiz family, so that's great. Sister Ortiz is literally an Angel. She reminds me of my mom

And Joaquin wants to be baptized this Saturday!! He was going to be baptized a few weeks ago, but we found out he was still drinking coffee so we had to push it back, and then we got news he was in the hospital. That was really sad, because it's probably because his body was so dependent on Coffee, but we gave him a blessing and he was out in 2 days, and keeps saying "I'm ready man!" It's amazing. So please pray for Joaquin this week!!

So here in Roswell, there isn't a day that goes by without me hearing police sirens. Anyways, most of our friends live in kind of a sketchy part of town. We were trying to contact one of our friends, and then this car pulls up to the house next to the one we were at. Then this guy hops out of the car, cocks his gun, and then walks into the backyard of the house. That was kind of concerning. We did call the police department just to let them know, but hopefully it wasn't anything serious. It was the fact that he cocked the gun that made me nervous, because you don't do that unless you plan on shooting. So that was wild! Roswell is kinda crazy. There's a gang called Crazy Town Roswell, and so members literally cannot wear ctr rings here, or people will think they're with the gang.

- Elder Wride

Ok, one of the members here is literally amazing. She runs a homeschooling program, and they had a valentines day activity at the church building. We gave a church tour at the same time, and then we ate lunch with everyone at the activity. It was crazy because there were like 60-70 people, and NONE of them were members!! I feel like we made a good impression. They made us play white elephant with them.

Also some members gave us tea... (face palm)

Week 55: Admit defeat, then turn to Jesus

It was transfer week! Elder Springer is gone now, and I got to meet Elder Haws! It was great to talk with him, because he just barely left his baby area, which is also my baby area! So I got to ask him about some of the members and friends. It was also good to hear that I successfully eradicated the roach infestation while I was there. He never had any issues.

We didn't have as many friends come to church this week as we normally do, which was sad, especially because 5 other people said they would come, but didn't. But Adilene was finally able to make it! We've been teaching her since before I got here, and it was her first time coming and she liked it! She got to know some of the members really well and it was great 

Spiritual thought

Idk if I'm gonna say this right, but I'm gonna try. As I've been studying creation, fall, atonement, and repentance, I thought the first step in AA was very insightful. It wasnt new, but it did feel groundbreaking fothat.

The first step:

Admit that we, of ourselves, are powerless to overcome our addictions and that our lives have become unmanageable.

I thought that was so interesting, because at first glance that sounds like the end. That sounds like failure, and something to be avoided. But it really helped me understand humility and grace better. The key, is that it is we, of ourselves, are powerless. Humility is recognizing out desperate need of the Savior. We don't have the power, and we need to admit that. We need to admit that our way doesn't work, or in other words, we need to admit defeat. But that isn't the end, that is the beginning. Literally step 1 is to admit defeat. And once we truly admit defeat, we have no choice but to turn to Jesus Christ, the one who conquered.

Step 2, is come to believe that a higher power (God) can restore us to sanity, or complete spiritual health.

We all face temptations and all fail at times, and when we do, we need that spiritual restoration. Once we admit defeat, we're able to turn to him who already fought this battle, and has already overcome. Jesus Christ already fought this battle for us, but too often, we (me especially) keep trying to fight it ourselves, even when we're trying to exercise faith in him. Because I keep thinking "I need to do all that I can do." But I think I've been misunderstanding it. When God commands us to do all that we can do, it isn't that we have to do all that we can on our own before his grace kicks in. His grace really is the light that guides us through the tunnel. When he asks us to do all we can do, he's asking us to do all we can do to hold up that light, to hold up and follow that light. I hope that made sense. I love you all!!

I'm sorry, I need to take more pictures with friends, but I do need your opinion on whether or not I should get a buzz. I think Meta made me look to handsome to be reliable. Some guy put that paper on our wind-shield wipers, lol.

Week 54: God perfects the harvest everytime

I dont know what to write this week, other than that its been amazing. Hopefully it'll come as I start typing. We have been working hard and we found 9 people this week, 4 of them were all in the same circle.

Ok wait, John Briggs!! Amazing guy, I think I wrote about him last week, how he read Under the Banner of Heaven and stuff. (It's amazing how God can even use Anti-material to strike interest and build up his kingdom). The other Elders had a baptism, and so we invited John to come to that and to go to church. He came to the baptism and brought 3 of his kids!! The spirit was strong, and the testimonies born were so powerful. As they were walking out, I heard him ask a member if the member would be at church tomorrow. That made me so happy!! He then went to church and brought his wife and kids, and they stayed for both hours. 

And we got transfer news!! I will be spending the next 6 weeks here in Roswell again!! I've loved it here so far, and we have such an amazing district. It's sad to see it break up, but next transfer will be fun too. We're a 10 person dudestrict right now. They're so fun and they're hilarious. My companion Elder Springer is leaving and my new comp is the one who replaced me when I left Abilene, so that'll be fun. I get to ask him about members and friends down there.

A big thing I've been focusing on this week is loving the Lord with all my mind. There's the scripture that says to love the Lord with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. It's really hard, but this is the hardest I've worked to strive to honor the Lord in all my thoughts, words, and actions. It's been difficult, and mentally exhausting, but it's been so rewarding. Just make Jesus Christ your focus, and you'll see blessings. I've noticed that when we make plans and strive to be worthy of the spirit, things just tend to work better. Either God tells us what to do, or he makes the plan work as we faithfully take action. He perfects the harvest everytime.

I don't even really know what I just wrote, but I love you all. I feel like big changes have been taking place in me, and it's been fun! I love you.

- Elder Wride

I'm trying to lose weight, but these people aren't helping. Some friends of ours stuffed me full of 12 el pastor tacos, and then gave me this mountain of ice cream and a slice of cheesecake.

Also Ruidoso, New Mexico is beautiful. 

Week 53: Week of Tender Mercies

Ok, so we had just an amazing week!! The biggest miracle we had though had to be how we had 8 of our friends at church on Sunday! We had set up some contacts of who we would stop by that morning. We stopped by Jose Jesús, and he brought his daughter too! As we were contacting that morning, Elder Springer felt that we should go stop by someone else we hadn't put in yet. This person we'd only talked to once, when we tracted into her on exchanges. We gave her a Book of Mormon and hadn't seen her since, but when we went by her husband answered and he said they would come. We weren't sure they actually would on such short noticed, but they both came and brought her Mom! It was just so amazing. Normally it's hard to get friends we've been teaching for a while to come to church, but they came even though we haven't taught them anything. They all loved it though, and the members really made them feel welcomed.

Another miracle was this guy named John that we met. We had a funeral for a member who we actually got to know really well, and it was sad. His name was David. He loved helping us with missionary work. At the a funeral, John came up to us, and said he wanted to learn about our beliefs. He had no idea David was LDS, because he thought he was Catholic. His family is very catholic, but he joined our church in his 20s, and everyone admired his incredible faith in Jesus Christ. We visited John, and he loved all of it. He's read Under the Banner of Heaven, and was really curious about Joseph Smith, and our history, and also served in the Army and wanted to know about our beliefs on life after death. Anyways, we talked about a lot, and he asked us where he could get a Book of Mormon, because he loves reading and also asked if we had an audio book (so he can listen to it as he walks his dog. we showed him the app). It was just amazing. He's bringing his whole family to church. I've never seen someone so prepared my whole mission. Anyways, it was an amazing week. Sadly, we have to pass him off to the English missionaries now, (teardrop emoji)

For P-day last week, we did squid game elimination type games, and I got 3rd place. I was lowkey really upset about it, I was invested. But I lost because I wasn't fast enough at sudoku, even though my opponent had the game master helping him the whole time. Today we went and played in the sand for a few hours.

I also found a hockey stick and a golf ball, and I'm literally so happy