Week 26: Watching Anti

So this week was pretty good. We had a ton of Yellow Dots, who are people that are supposedly interested. So we spent a few days just visiting/contacting each one, trying to clean it up so we actually know who's interested. Which has been sort of brutal, because we dropped a lot of people, but also good, because we can better see who's interested. It's kind of ridiculous how many people accidentally request the missionaries to come over. Like I'm surprised whenever they're like, "yeah I did that." They're almost always confused when we come over. But I'll just talk about probably my favorite thing that's happened this week.

Anti (sorry this is long)

So, idk if I've written about him before, but there was the guy that Elder Rochelle and I met in my first transfer. He is a missionary for another church, and he just came up to us while we were studying. That was the one and only day we've every done our studies in public. We were by this coffee shop place. Anyways, that first visit, he was like "you tell me what you believe, and I'll tell you what I believe." And we had an amazing 3 hour discussion, where we just went in depth about the restoration, the plan of salvation, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We explored scripture references for everything and went to different translations of the Bible, and it was just so hype. And then he vanished and we didn't see him for a few months. Apparently he was traveling doing missionary work, but then he came back and Elder Ball and I met with him in his home and walked mainly about the Book of Mormon. We had another amazing conversation, and I was just blown away with Elder Ball. He taught so powerfully, and I was like "dang, I wanna teach like that." It's really funny, he's meeting with us for 2 reasons: we might be right, and he might be right. We can't both be right, but we both think we're right. So he's lowkey trying to convert us, but also I think he's slowly realizing we might be the true church of Jesus Christ. He took a Book of Mormon, and said hed read it. After our lesson (with Elder Ball), he sent us a few anti-mormon videos... but it's ok because my testimony has been strengthened a bunch from it! We watched one "proving" Joseph Smith is a false prophet using the book of Abraham, one with the JST of the Bible, and one about how we have the same vocabulary, but a different dictionary. So we say things, but we don't actually mean what we say. They were pretty interesting, and I was kind of shook for a bit, but last P-day, I got to talk to my Dad, and he explained a ton about the Book of Abraham, and history around how it came to be, and I was like "ok." I was able to see where the guy (Mike Winger) had messed things up, and everything just made so much sense. There were a lot of things he said I already knew just weren't true, but some things I thought were true, and some were true. Anyways, I'll just skip to our last lesson, where we talked about the JST. This was cool and we were able to explain our beliefs about the Bible. He thinks the Bible is perfect, meaning without ANY flaws, and so we showed him a contradiction in Sauls conversion story. He was taken aback by that, and asked for time to think and look into it. We've all agreed that we should focus on more critical matters than the JST, and the Apocrypha though, so next time we are going to discuss the Nature of God (Trinity or Godhead). It was really funny because he told us he believes in the Trinity, and then proceeded to show US how in Genesis 1, the beginning of the Bible, it literally says: "And God said, Let us make man in OUR image". Verse 26. He put an emphasis on the word our, and told us how it sounds like God might be more than 1 person. And I was like "Careful there... you're starting to sound like a Mormon." We all laughed at that. But yeah he said he's going to find a video to explain the Trinity, we're going to send him something about the Godhead, and then we're going to meet on Wednesday to discuss it. And I'm so excited.

Anyways, just one takeaway from that (there are many) was if you find something that seems to contradict a belief into our church, look into it. Don't just take it at face value, figure it out. If the church is true, it can handle scrutiny, and it'll still be true. If it's really true, then if you really look into the claims, you'll come out with a stronger testimony because it's true. You just have to do some studying, thinking, and if it's true, it'll still be true. I feel like I used too many words to say that, lol. Ok bye guys! I love you all.

- Elder Wride

Week 25: picture week

So, I really don't have anything to share this week. Sorry to be lame, but I'm just gonna put the pictures in. Love you all! Also sorry I didn't take many pictures. I got my new comp though, and he's awesome! I'll talk more about him next week. We've been battling wasps like crazy. Elder Mendenhall doesn't like is picture taken.

Week 24: I won a watermelon eating contest

4th of July watermelons

So as expected, people in Texas like the 4th of July. The President changed the 4th to a member day, so we didn't have any lessons

 No one here wants to have a lesson on the 4th. So we did service for one of our members for a bit, and helped direct a parade for a small town called buffalo gap, and that finished a lot sooner than expected. We watched the awards ceremony, and then they announced the watermelon eating contest, and Elder Ball and I participated. They had a 4 rounds because there were lots of people. 2 for kids 12 and under, 1 for teens 13-19, and one for adults. So I participated in the 13-19 one. Since I'm 19, there wasn't too much competition, and I felt kind of bad for destroying those kids, but they wanted me to join. And I won. So now I have a watermelon plaque hanging on my wall. There weren't many fireworks because it's a major fire hazard here, but our neighbors under us didn't care, and I got a video of them Launching stuff from their porch.

Endoscopy

Also I got my endoscopy finally to see what's up with my esophagus. Apparently it's not that it's too small, it's just not flexible or stretchy like it's supposed to be. My esophagus is more like a PVC pipe, and so I gotta start taking some meds that'll soften it up. It was so fun going to the endoscopy there though. I was really looking forward to being sedated. Is that weird? Anyways it was fun to be knocked out and wake up feeling all goofy. It didn't feel quite as strong as when I got my wisdom teeth pulled out, like I wasn't acting as weird, but I was a lot more tired. It's a shame that my esophagus is stiff though. Imagine how much faster I could've eaten that watermelon if I had a normal esophagus. Anyways, getting sedated was pretty hype. I might have to get another one again in 3 months or so, depending on how the mess work.

Missionary work

So, things have just felt really slow this week. Maybe it's just that my comp is going home this week, and that it was the 4th this week, and that I had my endoscopy, but it just feels like we just haven't been doing as much missionary work as we've done on past weeks. My brother Ethan shared something with me that I'm trying to apply though. He shared how on his mission, it was very very hard, and the moment things changed was when he made the decision to change it. Too often we want something or we want to know when things will change before we are willing to dive in, and I do this too often. I like to know what I'm going to get, and when I'm going to get it before I make a decision, but that's just not how it works. As Melodie Wride said, Just live the gospel with no expectations or timetables, and see what happens down the road. Way easier said than done, and this is my biggest struggle right now. You can't expect to finish a race if you're not willing to run. Things will change for the better, but you can't expect them to if you're not willing to change. God will be with you with every effort you make, but you have to make an effort. This is your journey.

- Elder Wride

Also we went fishing for P-day today at a members house and I caught my first fish!! It was a small catfish, and I'm very proud of it. I can catch a fish off my bucketlist now, because I've never caught one completely by myself before. Feels kinda sad to say that..

Week 23: It was a good week. Can't think of another title.

Apartment update

So, it's been hot as heck down here. It's been over 100 degrees all week, and our AC unit has been broken for a long while, and our apartment reached a new high at 91 degrees. We've been really pushy with the maintenance guys here recently, and a new guy just came and brought a huge new AC unit, and now our apartment is cool. The whole time I've been here its been broken. And also, we're not totally sure why, but the cockroaches have pretty much all died down. I still kill one here and there, but they've pretty much all disappeared, and it's so nice. I hate roaches. This apartment is starting to feel more like a home.

Church

Elder Ball and I have talks this last Sunday. He asked for a topic, and spoke about patriotism, and I didn't have a topic. So I spoke about the fruits of the Gospel, and I talked a lot about my Brother Joe who just got married this week to Eliza!! I also talked about my family, and how the little things we do really do make a difference, and how crucial it is to protect the private times of your life. As my sister once said, "Just keep living the gospel without expectations or timetables. Just live it and do your best and see what happens down the road. I haven't reached the end of the road yet, but I know that I like where it's going and how I feel as I'm on it." Just live the gospel, and sing along the way. There's a lot to be happy about. Yeah, I quoted a lot of my family in my talk. Love y'all, you're the best. Anyways, also a cool thing happened this week with the Spanish group. The whole time I've been here, we've been working trying to get the Spanish group to grow and become self-sufficient. My first week with Elder Ball here, we had 2 people come. And they were just the members. But this last Sunday, there were 25 of us, which is the most there's ever been in the history of the Fort Phantom Spanish group. So that was pretty cool.

Divine add-on

Sorry if this is a bit of a repeat from last email. After I sent my last email, I relistened to the song, and I remembered another line that I wanted to talk about. It just said "You can shine so bright!" And the girl just signs it beautifully and powerfully that the meaningfelt more meaningful than usual. Listening to it with headphones hits different. We hear a lot about a divine destiny, how special we each are, but although its usually easy to hear that stuff, its a lot harder to feel it. After my Mom read the email from last week, she said:

"Wes, along with what you said about a baby learning to walk, I’ll add that as parents of the child, you also do not have any doubt that they ARE going to learn how to do it, there is no pressure, no rush, they will learn how to walk, then run, bike, ski, dance, and anything else they want to do. And we feel such JOY as we watch them learn it."

I thought that was really powerful and I wanted to share that too. God knows each of our potential, and it's incredible. You can shine so bright. God knows you can do it. God feels the same way that a loving father does. He feels joy when he watches you grow, and even when you fall, because he does not doubt your ability. He knows where you will one day be, and he knows you can make it there. You don't always know you'll make it. I often don't think I'll make it, but God knows. God knows where you belong, and he knows you'll make it there. He just wants you to see what He sees in you. There is a power inside you. So don't keep it inside. You could shine so bright.

Some pictures from the wedding. We went biking on my b-day cuz some other elders wrecked their car and needed ours for a bit. Daniel playing happy birthday, lol. And a few iconic pictures I found from back home that put a smile on my face.

I LOVE YOU ALL, feel free to email me anytime. I won't respond until P-day, but I love hearing from you.

- Elder Wride

Week 22: Divine

Unpopular opinion: I actually love the Youth Music. Not all of them, but there are quite a few that I really like and one particular that hit me pretty hard.

Baptism

Freddie was Baptized this week, and I got to do the confirmation. After he was baptized, he said he feels like a new man, and he's super happy about it. It's been amazing to help him, and we've become good friends. I was joking when I said it, but he might be expecting me to set him up with my sister. Sorry Mel. He's super excited to be progressing to go into the temple someday.

Ties

We did a little bit of tie trading this week, and I now have a lot of ties. I trading two of my ties for 3 from one Elder, and 2 for 2 with Elder Ball, and 1 tie for 7 ties with another. To be fair, they were all really thick, so I didn't really like them, but I liked the patterns, and I now have a skill for thinning ties, and he wanted one of my less favorite ties, so it was a good trade. I now have 40 ties... which is a lot.

Divine

There is a song called Divine on the 2022 youth Album, and one morning, I was feeling pretty sad. I was standing by the bathroom sink just staring at myself in the mirror, sort of like if I was in a movie. And then, I can't remember exactly why, but I was like, I'm gonna go listen to a song from the Youth album, and I played Divine. Idk, that sing just hit me so hard. Listening to that song staring at yourself in the mirror hits different, and I really felt that it applied to me, and I needed that reminder. I recommend you all go listen to it right now. I'd be surprised if all you missionaries and RMs didn't already have it memorized, and I won't blame you if you all hate it, but I loved it. My whole body got chills. There is one line in particular that stood out to me though, and that was:

You’re an angel learning how to fly.

I just love it, and that's my spiritual Thought. Just because you mess up, or you're tired, or you fall into the same temptation you've fallen into before, it's OK. When a baby is learning to walk, you don't shame them for tripping, you praise them for their effort, encourage them, love them, and try to comfort and motivate them when they want to give up. That's how God feels about us. We're all his children, his little angels, and he's teaching us how to fly, and it's hard, and you'll fall a lot. You'll be tired a lot. You'll want yo give up a lot. But thats all part of the journey, and soon, before you realize it, you'll be flying. If you just hold on, endure, and trust, then you'll see. That reminds me of another amazing song I've been thinking about. Its powerful. Flying by Cody Fry.

I love you guys! I hope I don't bore you with my emails. Anyways, if you can, please send me an email to say Hi! Also my birthday is tomorrow, ans I'll be 19. It's weird how the time flies. And someday I'll look back and be like "where'd all the time go?" This journey here on earth is really just a short trip, so enjoy it. Make it count!

-Elder Wride

I found that picture of my Dad tying my shoe, but everything else is from this week. The papers are from me preparing my first Spanish talk. That fat pig was eating a bunny, and I'm not gonna explain the rest. I'm out of time.

Week 21: Agency

Sorry guys, I don't have a lot to write about this week. I rear ended a car today though. Kind of embarrassing. Dad, correct me if I'm wrong, but I felt like I was a pretty decent driver before the mission, but man, I've been struggling on the mission. My first day driving, I scraped up the side of the car on a pole, and the door had to get replaced. Today, although I was distracted, I stopped in time that I did hit the car, but there was no damage done to our car. Thank goodness, because its brand spanking new. The guy I hit got a little scratch, but he was chill about it and said it was fine. The only issue is now I'm teased for bad driving.

Cool things that happened

So we don't have a ton of Spanish people that are progressing, except for Josué. He's the first person I've taught in Spanish that actually came to church after we invited him to come! Also, while we were doorstep teaching this one guy, this kid walked passed us with his lawn mower and was like "Hi how are y'all?!" And then when we went back the next day to visit someone who told us to come back, we saw the kid again. The guy we tried to talk to wasn't home, but the kid ran up to us like "I've seen guys like you everywhere, what do y'all do?" And we told him how we're missionaries for Jesus Christ, and he told us to come to his house and teach him, so we're going back today. I've never had someone run up to us and ask us to teach them though, and so that was cool.

Another thing, we talked to a group of Spanish men just drinking, cooking meat, and playing cards, because one of them was a referral. While talking to then, we found that another guy in the group had also put in a referral, and it was actually a wonderful lesson. They asked so many deep questions, and we found 5 people in that moment. We've been praying to reach our finding goal this week, which was 5, so that was cool.

Agency

This is just something I've been thinking about and trying to figure out. There are some things, many things, where I just know I'm not doing my best. There are many many things that are asked and expected of us as members and missionaries of the church, and some things I just haven't been doing and don't really want to do, but I know I should. I've been wondering, why can't I just do my best? And with some help, it led me to a question. Does Christ help you to do things that you can do for yourself, but you're just not feeling like it? A popular poem is footprints in the sand, and it talks about how Christ carries us through our hardest times. And honestly (hot take here) it doesn't quite ring true to me because I've never felt that. I feel like I've never been carried. I think I've been nudged, and probed and poked, but normally, I just feel nothing. I'd be interested to hear what y'alls thoughts are. But one of the things my Dad said, was

"So I feel like you’re sort of asking why the Lord doesn’t interfere or intervene a bit more to do this work you’re supposed to be doing – why not more guilt for mistakes and more joy when you’re doing what you should be doing? Well, it’s up to you – you know what to do – and now you have the freedom and time to decide what it is that you want. It is unlikely that you’ll be compelled."

And I feel like this rings true, but I also don't like it. Agency is sort of a pain sometimes, because I don't like having to make my own decision when I really want to choose the easier one, the wrong one. It'd be nice to feel more guilt when I mess up and feel more joy when I'm doing good, that way I'd feel more motivated to be obedient. But I think God is intentionally leaving me hanging. I've been asking God to help me change my heart so that I no longer long to do what's wrong, but sadly, I think this is part of the process. I'm being left to my own devices, and given the opportunity to choose for myself. You get to choose where you put your heart. God doesn't want people who only follow him for the blessings or only because he tells them to, he wants his children to follow him because they want to follow him. He wants us to choose to do what's right simply because it's right. Idk, let me know y'alls thoughts, I really learn a lot from your emails.

Week 20: in the Similitude of the Savior

I'm not really sure what happened this week. Everything is blending together.

Baptism

We did have a baptism this week. The sisters have been teaching this kid, and his mom was baptized in my first week. They asked me to do the baptism, and I did. Sad thing though, the next day, they didn't show up to church, when he was supposed to recieve the Holy Ghost. That was very sad. We're really going to try to get them to church next week. It would be very sad if he just went by with a half-way done baptism.

Roach update

We still have roaches. We have done as much as we have been able to to get rid of them. We bombed the apartment with roach bomb, but it didn't kill any of them. It just lured them all onto the walls and slowed them down, so we vacuumed them all up and left the vacuum thing away from our apartment for a few days. We also had the place sprayed which killed a lot, but they didn't tell us when they were coming, so we didn't have time to empty all the pantry and everything. We've called and they're coming again, but the lady wanted to inspect our apartment to make sure were not slobs, and we had to empty out all of our cupboards. They said they'd charge us 45 bucks for every cupboard and drawer that wasn't empty, and so that's all of our stuff on the table. 

Mutual

One of our friends who we've been teaching is really looking toward being married and starting a family soon. He's wishing he started sooner because he's 31 now. We recently taught him the law of chastity, which was actually a really really cool lesson, and we got him in contact with the Adult Singles Group leader, so that he can get to meet some people his age. He complained a bit how the church doesn't have a dating app, and then we brought up mutual. It isn't church owned, but it's widely used by only church members, and he was pretty happy about that, so we're going to get a photo with him and be on his mutual profile. So if any of y'all happen to be in Abilene Texas area on mutual, you might get to see it. He's a really cool dude, and I like him a lot.

Similitude of the Savior

I was reading in Moses 1 yesterday, and something stuck out to me that I really liked. 

6. And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace and truth...

13. And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who are thou? For behold I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten: and where is thy glory that I should worship thee?

16. Get thee hence, Satan; decieve me not, for God said unto me: Thou art after the similitude of mine Only Begotten.

The word Similitude was really sticking out to me, and so I'd decided to search up what the exact definition is, and it said "Similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things." It just really hit me, because it was a powerful reminder of the Divine Identity each Child of God has. We are all made in the similitude of the Savior. We all, deep down to our core, have the same nature as him. We often forget it because of how often/easily we fall into sin, but all of us are noble and treasured children of God. We all belong with him and all belong back in his presence, because that is who we are before anything else. As we walk the covenant path, we discover more of who we truly are, and who we can become. We all of Godly potential, and it's just nice to be reminded of that. I'd love to hear your thoughts and insights!

- Elder Wride

I feel like I need to explain some of these pictures. The sisters in our District sent that Anime Gif, and they said that it's me. I thought that was pretty funny. 

Abi I'm sorry, but I actually really like the look of this Cowboy hat, so I'm definitely getting one at some point. I'm going country. Country dancing after the mission is going to be hype. If any of yall wanna donate money for the cause of buying a genuine hat and pair of boots for my birthday, I won't complain. Lol, jk, but not really. 

Us cooking steak at a members house, and the picture of our table with all of our food and books and stuff.