Week 18 - November 17, 2025

ORAR

Exchanges w/ Elder Redd

Elder Redd and I were in the CCM together and we got to go on an Exchange for a day. He's the least real person you will ever meet, and we were just having so much fun it was hilarious. But not only was it fun, but we actually found and put someone on a baptismal date. We also went and played basketball with two members for like an hour and a half at night and it was so fun. Felt good playing some basketball after only soccer every single time. Don't worry we cooked them.

Willis y Ruiz

So, my trainer and dad of the mission completed his two years this week which is crazy. He was an unreal missionary and just had tons of knowledge. Throughout the week we just had tons of visits with people for his last week, so we got fed a lot. Super grateful for him and the time we had. Crazy that three months are already up in the mission. But because I had him leave, we of course needed to get a new companion. ELDER RUIZZZ. Elder Ruiz is in Belize right now and has been there for six months but asked if he could end his mission in our zone cause it's the only one he hasn't been in. He's from Honduras and he's hugeeeee. He called our Zone Leaders and was like asking about me and other things about the Zone and the first thing he said he was going to tell me is that he is going to be taking breaks sometimes… Buttt he wants to baptize so we will see. But I'm super stoked.  It is going to be lit. It also means thought that because he's going home next transfer, I might have six months here in Rabinal if they don't whitewash it and take me out. 😅😅😅

Permision?

So, we had these two kids on baptismal date for Saturday, but we needed to get permission from the dad, so we were a little nervous. Keep in mind the dad and mom can't talk. So allegedly he gave us a hard no from what the older sister said. So Elder Willis wrote out this massive paper for the older sister to translate through their signs and said we would come back the next day to try and get permission. We came back and were teaching, just waiting to ask the question. And they were like, "Yes, my dad said it was good, we have permission." So, we were stoked. So, we texted the older sister thank you for translating and everything. And then she calls us like "Well ya, you have permission in 8 years from now when they turn 18." This was a devastating blow. Got our hopes up then just threw them. Apparently, they go to this church thing like 3 times a week from 12-5 that pays them for coming, but if they get baptized in another church, they don't get paid anymore…

Other things

🎵: One of the best moments on the exchange with Elder Redd is we were finishing an appointment with one of the members in his area and he's a goat but also kind of a tweaker. But we just started singing everything we were saying at the end and were just dying laughing.

Tik tok: It's becoming a problem but maybe this will change this upcoming transfer. People in Rabinal are tracking us and have made 3 tik toks of us. We keep having members send them to us.

🚘: We were eating at a member's house, and they turned on Cars 1. Wow I was in heaven. Top movie all time. And the intro wasn't in Spanish, so it was just an unreal flashback. Was so grateful for them. BIG Cars 1 guy. And this isn't my fault they turned on a movie.

Spiritual Thought

So I've been thinking a lot about prayer this week and the power of prayer and one scripture I really love about prayer is in 3 Nephi 14. It says:

7 Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

8 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

I love this scripture a lot because it really is so powerful. You WILL find. It WILL be opened. But I think sometimes we think we are going to receive an answer the first time we pray. We know we have to pray with faith that we are going to receive an answer but what is faith if you receive an answer the first time you pray every time. Faith is a repeated action. It's not faith if you only have it one day and not the next. You can't choose to have faith only when you want something. I also love that the scripture doesn't say when you will receive the answer. Only that you will. It takes repeated action and repeated prayer. Trust that you will receive an answer whenever that may be. God has a plan for you and is very in the details. 

Love you all, and I love being out on a mission so much.

Elder Wilde

Week 17 - November 10, 2025

 I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

There is nowhere better to be than the mission. The mission is incredible. This week flew and was another amazing week again. 

Change of plans?

So, this week we were heading back to my area Rabinal from Salama which is the biggest city in the Zone. And just gonna be honest, I was counting sheep the entire bus ride. But I wake up and get off the bus, and my comp Elder Willis is like hey btw I just got a call I'm going to Cobán to train the new mission financer and you're going to Santa Barbara with Elder Richards for a couple days and we are leaving in a couple hours. Elder Richards is an absolute stud, btw.

Santa Barbara con Elder Richards

Honestly, it was such a good experience for me and such a big motivator. Elder Richards really is an unreal missionary, and the time flew working with him. We had tons and tons of lessons and felt like I was just rolling the streets again with the boys. I got to call my mom for her birthday, and I honestly think Richards had a more fun time than I did only listening. But he taught me a ton, and we had some elite convos. 

One of maybe the coolest things that happened was this one night after finishing a lesson, we stood waiting for someone to pull over and pick us up and take us back to the house, but nobody was having it. Then finally this guy pulls over. And starts off by telling us he's Catholic and just goes off for 30 minutes how incredible we are and the light we are to people. He bought us stuff from the store and then was like, “Can I FaceTime my family and show them I'm with the missionaries.”  Then he wanted a video and picture for his Facebook. It was honestly just a really cool experience and just having someone be so happy to see us that was outside of the church was really cool, and he also shared some great messages. 

Rabinal

We only had two days in my area this week, but we definitely made the most of it. We found tons of people and had so many lessons. This makes the time fly. The busier you are the faster the time goes. Every Saturday night we do a soccer night with the kids in the area and usually we don't have a ton, but this night we had way too many--it was nuts. I think we got like 25 kids to show up so the field was packed. We had 15 investigators come to church--it was crazy. Out of the like 70 people at church, 15 were investigators (our week goal was 3 and the Zone goal was 19). This week will be my last week in Rabinal with Elder Wilis as he is going home, but we have our transfer news this week which will be very interesting.

Random Things:

📖: So, I had my first Bible bash this week. In Elders Quorum… basically I was teaching and it's a very small class and nobody there was under 70 and these people, I love them, but sometimes just never know what's going on. All the sudden two of them start going off about Jesus wasn't perfect. And I was just like, huh? But for an hour, they just wouldn't stop saying it was in the scriptures that it said he wasn't perfect. He's like in Mathew 10 and I was like alright let's go read it then… Then k exact phrase searched the Bible for them on all the things they said were in the verse… They think we have an apostate Bible now.

🏐: It's honestly hurting me to write this but have to stay true. Last p-day night we had a volleyball thing with all the YSA in Salama. And the gringo lineup didn't win… We got cooked by a bunch of a 5-foot Guatemalans. I'm recovering still.

🪏: We did some service for a member shoveling dirt and then pushing the wheelbarrow to their house. Which sounds simple. But when your wheelbarrow is catching 3 feet of air along the dirt path it makes the task a little harder. We were sweating bullets, too. And the wheelbarrow was more like a plate. I don't know if more dirt made it to their house, on my shirt, or on the trail.

Spiritual Thought - Alma 11-13

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. 

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

I love teaching the Atonement of Jesus Christ because it's always such a powerful thing to teach. The more you think about it, the more incredible it gets. Jesus Christ went and suffered for every single thing we have done or doing and will do. If you take a step back and put just yourself. If you were with your friend and you caused your friend so much pain and sorrow and then he turns around and told you he loved you. Told you that he will be with you no matter what. This is a pretty incredible thing. And this is exactly what Christ did for you. But not only for you but every single person that has lived, is living, and will live. His grace is sufficient to all that come unto him. And I know that he wants us all to come unto him no matter the pain we inflicted upon him.

Little bit of a shorter email this week, but I love you all.

Elder Wilde

Week 16 - November 3, 2025

 SHEEP

IT'S MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY ON THURSDAY. Please make sure to shout out the goat Queen Wilde. 

Zone Conference 😅

So, we had a zone conference with 5 out of the 8 zones. So, there was like 75 missionaries there and President of course. But we are sitting there and one of the Hermanas is announcing the agenda for the meeting and all the sudden I just hear… Primera oración de Elder Will… While… Will-Day. My heart literally dropped.  I was like there is no way. I went up shaking a little. There's just a picture of me giving the prayer and President and his wife are behind me, and it almost seems like she's praying with me for me. But anyways we had super good lessons taught there from the APs and some ZLs. Super motivating and great messages. Then we had the temple after which, as always, was so so good.

3 more Baptismal Dates

So, this week we saw tons of miracles, and it was amazing. That family we have been teaching with the deaf parents progressed tons and we put two of the kids on baptismal dates, which is awesome. Then on Sunday night, we were coming back to our house and there's this commadore right next to our house and we decided to stop and talk with them about the Plan of Salvation. We ended up getting to baptism and one of them was like, "Ya, I baptized myself but never got the Holy Ghost."  Well… we can help you with that. How's November 30? Bang.

Dia de los Santos y Muertos

These days were crazyyyy here. Halloween isn't really a thing, but wow these are. There were so many people it was impossible to get anywhere. We talked to tons of people, who were just so excited to hear from us and learn more…, and it was so cool just to see the culture. We were teaching this one person, and we were like wait, this is going well this isn't like the last 40 and then we are like so do you go to a church? Ya, I'm a Mormon. Ahhhh this makes sense. But it was still really cool seeing everything. Met tons of cool people, all from Guatemala City.

Random thing ☕️ 

So, my companion and I brought some bread for Sacrament, and this lady stopped us in the street and was like hmm you can eat bread but not drink coffee? My comp and I just looked at each other and were just like what haha. Like uhhh Hermana, I don't think those are really equivalent. 

Spiritual Thought

So, I'm not sure why but I've been thinking about this day I had a long time ago a lot. We were picking up one of my brothers from the airport from their mission. Sorry can't remember who. And as we were waiting, I vividly remember, maybe more than seeing my brother clearly, seeing another missionary walk out a couple minutes before him. But it wasn't a normal welcoming home. This missionary came home to one person picking him up. I assume it was his dad and he was not happy to see him and did not even offer a hug. They continued walking and didn't say a word. 

But what I remember more than anything was watching my dad walk over to the missionary, shake his hand, give him a hug, and a quick pat on the back with words of encouragement, I'm sure. A simple act but one that I'm sure meant so much to the missionary. And to me, who I'm sure he had no idea was watching. But I was reading in my personal study this week a scripture reminded me of this; Alma 5 59 - 60.

59 For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out? Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy him. 

60 And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.

Now might seem like a stretch, but it was all I could think about while reading. Many of us are maybe like the missionary or the sheep who may not always be going the right direction or making the right decisions. We all have outward pressures and conflicts on our lives. But something we always have is the Savior wanting to help us in every effort that we make. He's always there to pat us on the back and give us the encouragement that we may need even when we think nobody is there for us. If there's anything I've learned to be true, it's that THERE ARE GOOD DAYS TO COME.

I love you all, please send lots of love to my amazing mom for her birthday she's the best.  Elder Wilde