Week 44: Do you want to be happy?

I feel like I've been asking myself this question a lot this week. A few days ago it felt like all the doubts I've ever had came back and I just got kind of depressed. After some pondering, I asked myself a question: "Do you want to be happy?"

One thing that I've learned on the mission, is no matter what or how much you read, you still won't have all the answers. Everyone is eventually backed up to the wall of faith and has to take a step in the dark. The only way to really find out is to be believing.

Our friend Ryan is back on date and wants to be baptized before I get transfered, so we're really excited for that!

Sorry for the short email, but don't forget about your favorite missionary this Christmas!!

- Elder Wride

I made gluten-free crepes for the district

I'm a master at tetris. I fit all the chairs and the podium in a small room

Zachery just got baptized! He was a guy I randomly messaged on Facebook, and it must've been spirit led because he was so ready

Week 43: Spiritual Thoughts

Eulises and Naomi were baptized on saturday!! The heater broke, so the water was cold, but it was good, and they are very happy.

This week was one of deep thinking, and it was great. I love deep thoughts. Our Branch President is amazing, if you ever happen to visit the Dalhart Branch, they're amazing people. One thing President Baumert told us something I thought was really profound. He was telling house his conversion story, and he said "You don't have to prove anything, but you sure got to be something." That's led Elder Pfeifer and I into a few discussions, and I really like how he put it. You need to "Choose your keystone." We need to choose what our keystone is, and check our motivation, the why,  behind everything we do. If you choose a bad keystone, it may hold you for a bit, but everything will eventually fall.

Are you doing missionary work? Or are you inviting others to come unto Christ?

Are you trying to be a missionary, or a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Are you reading the scriptures, or are you trying to grow closer to Jesus Christ

As we've talked, and my mission President talked about this, our motivation should be our love for the Savior. Why do you hey up at 6:30? Because I love Jesus Christ. Why do you go to church? Because I love Jesus Christ. Why do you study the scriptures? Because I love Jesus Christ. Sometimes that isn't our answer, but that's what we're working towards. He is the only Keystone that will support everything else forever. He needs to be our keystone.

Hesed

Also, I forgot to write what I learned about Hesed in my email last week. So for Hesed, President Nelson described it as a covenant type love, and those which make Covenants have access to a special kind of love and Mercy, and how God will never tire in his efforts to bring them home. That bothered me at first, because that made it sound like by making Covenants, God loves us more. So I thought, "God never tires in his pursuit of anyone, despite if they've made a covenant yet. How does making a covenant change the relationship if God already never tires in his efforts to bring you home." Then I found an interview between David Snell and Brad Wilcox about Grace and Covenants on Facebook. It really helped, and I thought about it while I tore apart and cleaned our now spotless fridge. God loves all of his children perfectly, equally, unconditionally, but he can only show his love as far as we let him. We need to be baptized and make that covenant with God because that gives God greater access to our hearts, because now we're bound in a marriage like covenant. Covenants don't increase God's love for us, but it does increase God's ability to show his love for us, because now we're opening the door to receieve it. Brad Wilcox defined an ordinance as "a symbolic representation of a spiritual reality." We are not saved by the ordinances, we are only saved by Jesus Christ. But by making Covenants, we draw nearer to him, gain access to his power, and open ourselves to recieve more of his love.

- Elder Wride

I taught Eulises how to tie a tie

Week 42: As you can see, I am not dead

My brother Hyrum sent me a meme a while ago about how after 6 months, you don't know what to say in your emails anymore, and after 9.5 months, I think I'm getting to that point. I'll put the meme in the pictures.

We got transfer news, and Elder Pfeifer and I are staying together for the next 5 weeks!! Go check out my story, and maybe heart it... Anytime one of us makes a post or story, we compare who has the most views and reactions, like its a competition. So if you want to help me win/prove my superiority, go view and like my stories!! Jk, but not really

Something super exciting though is that Naomi and Ulysses were interviewed for baptism last night and plan on getting baptized on saturday! Please pray that we can get a lot of people to come!!

It also rained a ton, and so I've been splashing in the puddles. I accidentally drove into a lake in the middle of the road, but I was able to get out without getting stuck. I also saw my first snow on the mission, and threw my first snowball.

Also just finished the wheel of woe 2.0. Its so much worse...

- Elder Wride

Week 41: Halloween and Hesed

I can't believe I'm on week 41. That number seems way too high. This week wasn't as much of a grind as last week. Halloween slowed us down and not a lot of people were home. We still found a lot of people though. Just on Monday night, which was a P-day, meaning we only had 3 hours of real missionary work, we found 3 people. One of them is a kid named Denilson. We talked with him and his parents and it was crazy. They're all super excited about the Book of Mormon. They called it a preparation Manual for the second coming which I really liked. We then showed Denilson the Gospel Library app, and he was like "oh yeah, I'll for sure use this. At least like 30 minutes a day or something." That's just incredible.  Normally it's such a struggle to get someone to read 1 verse in a day.

We had interviews with President this week, and it was really good. We talked a lot about what our motivation for everything we do should be, and really it's all about Love. Our motivation for everything we do should be our love for Jesus Christ. If it isn't, that's OK, but that's where you want it to be. So I'm going to do a deep dive on everything Jesus and see how things change.

We also had an Area 70, Elder Vest, join us in our Branch service this week. It was really funny though, because there were only like 18 of us. I got to talk with him quite a bit though and it was really nice. He led a short lesson and talked a lot about Hesed, which is actually something President Nelson has talked about a few times now. It's a Hebrew word, חֶסֶד. And it is a covenantal love. There's not quite a translation for it in English, and so it's translated many different ways in the Bible (lovingkindness, mercy, goodness, etc.) President Nelson explained that when we make a covenant with God, our relationship is deeper, more intimate, and is now Hesed. It's a covenant type of love, like a marriage. I'm still studying it because I have questions about it, but if any of you want, feel free to study it as well. And please let me know what insights you have! I'll put some of what I learn about it in my next email. Elder Vest invited me to study this talk if you want somewhere to start.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/10/04-the-everlasting-covenant?lang=eng

- Elder Wride

Sorry for not a lot of pictures this week!

I've learned how to cook, but not a lot of healthier stuff yet. Lots of BBQ. There's some BBQ Bacon-wrapped Cheese-filled Hot Dogs.

Week 40: the Grind is real

Today, I woke up at 3 am for some reason, and I thought it was 6:30. So I turned on the lights and woke up my comp. After a few minutes, and being mostly conscious, Elder Pfeifer was like "wait, my phone says it's 3:18." And then I looked at my phone and it said 3:19. Lol, he threw his watch at me, and we tried to go back asleep.

This week was really good. We were working hard. We set a lofty goal to find 7 people this week, and 5 is what we normally top at. But we pushed, and found 9 people this week! And they all actually seem interested, which is great. We didn't have any gaps in our schedule, or waste any time this week. 

We've also gotten like 6 referrals this week. And normally when we get those they have no idea why we have their info, or they don't exist, but everyone we got this week is real, and actually requested to meet with us!!

I also messages this random guy on Facebook who liked one of the church posts, and I asked him if he wants to meet with missionaries, and he said "Yes yes yes Amen." So I got his address, sent him to the sister missionaries on Amarillo, and they sent me a message that he went to church and asked to get baptized! And I only messaged the guy this week!!

Something that I've been doing recently is marking in blue every name for Jesus Christ, God the Father, or any time it says "His, him, he," or things like that. I'm going through all the standard works with that, and it's been really helpful. I feel like things this week have just been re-emphasizing how all of my studies should be focused on how ____ brings me closer to Christ. Everything needs to be focused on him, or it will not last. The good things in life only last forever if they themselves are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Love all you guys! That's all I have for this week. God Bless

- Elder Wride

I was sweating because we played prosketball with some mexicans

Week 39: Good Week

This week was good! We've started a new thing where we've been marking scriptures in Book of Mormons before we hand them out, and we've been handing out a lot this week! Tracting was actually crazy this week, everyone has been so nice. It's been weird, normally people are kind of aggressive and unkind, but everyone was so respectful and many invited us back. I guess we were led by the spirit or something, idk.

We an amazing lessons with Ryan, who was on date, but we had to take him off date so he can wane off for the word of wisdom. He really wants to be baptized though. Please pray for him that he'll have strength to do it! And that he'll be able to find a new job!

We had 4 friends come to church this week, which is the most we've had since I've been here, and all of them said they're coming back! Please pray for Octavio, and Ulysses, and Marta, and Naomi please too. Just pray for Dalhart in general, we're really trying to find the prepared people who are willing to listen to us. We've been finding a lot more of them, but yeah. Thank you! I don't really know what else to write today, but I love you all!!

- Elder Wride

I spun the wheel of woe and had to shave Elder Pfeifer and he had to take a cold shower

Week 38: the Repentance Process

So this week was so good. I just need to say, I love my companion. Elder Pfeifer is one of my favorite people ever. He and I have very similar personalities and get along swimmingly. He is so fun, and hard working, and excited to be here, and it's great. We've played a few games of monopoly deal and have spun the wheel of woe. We made a wheel with various punishments, so now he has a video of me yodeling for 30 seconds, and I have to shave him tomorrow. It's weird, I know, but it's fun too.

Also, fun thing, we had an AMAZING discussion with Ryan, and we brought our Branch President. Ryan is our most progressing friend I think. He drove 45 min to come to church on Sunday, and he loved it. He said he's coming back next week. And he's listening to conference. Just pray for him that he'll keep progressing and make the sacrifices he needs to, and see the blessings that come from following Christ!

We also had a Mission Tour yesterday, which is why P-day was Tuesday this week. Elder Alonzo of the Seventy came to speak with us missionaries. Our mission president led a really amazing discussion outlining the steps of the repentance process, and it was so good, that I'm gonna put all the steps he gave in this email along with some scripture references.

1. Recognize your sin

Mosiah 4:2

2. Broken heart and Contrite Spirit

2 Nephi 2:7

Mosiah 4:5-6

3. Experience Godly Sorrow

Alma 36:16-18

4. Confess your sins

Mosiah 26:29

5. Forsake the sin

Alma 39:9

Mosiah 5:2

6. Make Restitution

3 Nephi 12:23-24

7. Forgive others to be forgiven ourselves

Mosiah 26:31

8. Seek Forgiveness from God

Enos 1:4

9. Recieve Forgiveness and Peace

Mosiah 4:3

Mosiah 4:11-12

10. Invite others to partake

Mosiah 28:3

1 Nephi 8:10-18

Luke 22:32

President Nelson has really emphasized the need to apply the repentance process daily. We need to make the process of repenting our daily friend. And what's beautiful is that in the process of each step of the repentance process, you feel a little lighter. Your burden isn't as heavy, and as you continue in the process, you feel that burden get lighter and lighter until your free and forgiven. Each step is important, and if you want to feel forgiven, feel light and pure before God, it's through daily repentance. This is the path of Joy, so walk it!

Also my brother Daniel got baptized this week!!! I love him so much. He's a good boy. Making covenants with God and keeping them brings so much joy. I love you guys!!

- Elder Wride

I hope y'all know that Pic of us running didn't do me any favors. I'm not that chubby, but it still motivated me to work out harder