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

Week 52: Questions = Answers

So, this week was really good. Sorry I didn't get a ton of pictures, and I don't have a lot to say right now, but we worked hard. We set some high goals in our weekly planning. We found 8 people, had 10 member participating lessons, had 4 people at church, and put another friend on date!

A fun thing though, is there's a Muslim guy on messenger who reached out to me and is trying to convert me. I also just randomly found a Quran at the other Elders Apartment. It's kinda interesting though, some of the stuff he sends me don't quite make sense and he isn't really answering my questions.

That leads me to a small spiritual thought, and it's that our Church actually has answers, and even better, they make sense!! At times I get confused, but I've noticed that if I actually study, I find answers. And this week I relearned the importance of having questions. My studies have felt non-beneficial lately, because I couldn't think of anything that I really wanted to learn, but then I started to think about the sealing power. Like, let's say a Dad is sealed to his son, and one of them chooses not to believe in the Savior, and doesn't go to the celestial kingdom, but the other one was faithful. If the Dad was faithful, but the son wasn't, does the Dad still have claim over his kid in the next life? Anyways, I'm still reading up on it, but it's been a lot more fun when you have a question. So ask questions!

Quote from Elder Uchdorf

"We rarely find something we are not looking for. Seek, and ye shall find."

He was speaking about Joy, but I think the principle applies to everything. Love you guys! Sorry for the short email

- Elder Wride

Week 51: Make it Sacred

We were going to have zone conference on Thursday, but it snowed a TON here. Normally it snows once a year, and it's all gone the next day, but we lowkey had a blizzard. It felt like home. So Zone conference was canceled, and we spent 5 hours shoveling driveways. And so we had Zone Conference today instead!

I forgot to say, but they asked me to be an SMS again, and so we've been leading the Zone in that again. People kind of loathe Facebook work here, but it's fun to see them get excited about it when we send challenges out. I think we do a good job. We definitely have a lot of fun and it unites us as a Zone.

Anyways, January 8th was an interesting day. My estimated homecoming day is January 8th, 2026. And I was like "oh no, I don't have a lot of time left." It does not feel like I've been here for a year, and I've been told the 2nd year goes even faster. So I sort of panicked and said a pleading prayer asking God to help me make the most of it. I don't want to look back with regret. Anyways, and then at Zone conference, President talked a lot about the dangers of becoming casual about sacred things, and as a missionary, every day of the week is meant to be sacred. We talked a lot about things that we start to treat casually, and the dangers of doing that. There were a lot of things I realized I need to shape up at, and after Zone conference I realized that was God's answer telling me how to get the most out of this next year. But I guess it doesn't make sense to ask for a fruitful year and expect not to work and make sacrifices, even if they night seem miniscule. But to sacrifice literally means to make something sacred. By making the sacrifices the Lord asks me to make, my mission becomes his mission, which is what it was always meant to be.

Our friend Juaquin was going to be baptized this Saturday, but he's still been drinking coffee. So we rescheduled it for Feb. 1st, had an amazing lesson, and he gave us his coffee!!

They moved P-day to today for Zone Conference, and a food bank called us asking us to help. Normally we wouldn't because it's our P-day, but we decided to put other first, and the Lord Blessed us abundantly. We now have 15 DOZEN eggs in our fridge, 6 giant bags of apples, and 40 bags or BBQ chips. We have a lot of food, which is amazing because eggs are expensive

I finally got some Boots!! It's about time too, because I've had my blazers for 3 years now, and they offer no support anymore. Here in Roswell, it's close enough to all the Texans that they have a store dedicated solely to high quality handmade boots, but far enough away that they're actually really cheap for boots. They aren't at all like what I went in looking for, but I saw them and I just had to get them. I'm so excited to wear them country dancing after the mission (Emoji face with cowboy hat)

Week 50: Good = True

My brother Hyrum told me how each week is about 1% of your mission. I can't believe I'm basically 50% of the way done. The time goes by way too fast.

We have had some awesome lessons this week, and a wack one too. One guy really needs prayers, his name is José Jesus. They want to grow closer to God, but they're really struggling financially and might not have a home soon. Please pray for them. Also Adeline. She's basically ready for baptism, but her family is catholic, and her mom won't let her come to church. I'm not sure what the best move is to help her, so please pray for her and her family. I don't have a ton to say this week, but we had another lesson that was kind of weird. This guy has been meeting with missioanries for like 50 years, and isn't progressing. He came up to us and basically told us that all churches are good, and it doesn't really matter. He's read the Book of Mormon in 3 different languages (he speaks 7), and said it's a good book that we should read, but he doesn't think it's true. He said he's prayed about it, but we're not sure how open he is to an answer. It made me think though, because if the Book of Mormon is good, than it has to be true. It can either be good and true or evil and false, there is no in between. The Book of Mormon claims to be the word of God, and if it isn't from God, who's it from? Anyways, we explained that to him, but he didn't really hear us. Anyways, I don't have much to say this week. But at the very least, the Book of Mormon is good... that just also happens to mean it has to be true.

I need to get more pictures with our friends, sorry I keep forgetting. I love you guys