Dec 1st, 2013

Oi! 

That's exciting about the Christmas decorations! I have seen two houses that have the lights up. That is one thing I will miss is seeing the Christmas lights. I will send a few things your way this week. I hope they get there by Christmas. 

This week was super good! Number wise, not so much, but we put a lot of time into Roseli and her family. They were baptized on saturday! It was such a good baptism. It was super hectic before. We arrived late from that small town a few hours away and there were tons of people running around in the church. They were finishing up the super saturday activity. Then we checked the baptism font and all the water had drained out. It takes about 2 hours for it to fill up and we had 15 minutes till the baptism, so we turned the water on, and ran buckets of water from the bathroom. We also had a hose from the outside filling up the font. We started the baptism a few minutes late, but it turned out to be pretty good! I also made cookies for after the baptism. I made the batter a day before, then baked them after the baptism. They turned out really good! 

This week was also pretty good! We have received a good down pour everyday. And I forget my umbrella nearly everyday! So, when I knock on doors, it is like i jumped out of a swimming pool and walked up to a door and asked if I could come in and share a message. hahaha Would you let a stranger soaking wet come in and sit on your sofa? hahaha One man let us in. He was really funny! He has a wife that he has been married to for 70 years! He also said that he has great great grand children! 

I got your package of pictures this week! I haven't had time to open them but I will after I am finished with emailing. 

This week was also really good because we had interviews with the president! We also had a training from the assistants. It was a good training. It is really funny! Every training they show a clip from a movie and apply it to the mission. This time they showed the clip from the movie Patriot in the final battle of the movie when the colonists are retreating and the British are taking over. then the main character takes the American flag and rallies everyone to turn back and fight the British. They related that how we need to follow our leaders and turn back and endure to end in this ´battle´ that we are fighting. It is hard to explain, but it is pretty cool! 

I really like training's, they really motivate me to work harder and get me excited for this opportunity. 

now for the questions.....

1)  What is the ward like?  Is it small, large?  Do you have a chapel?  Are there several wards there, or only one?  Yesterday we had 176 people in the chapel! This is a really high number! But we need to strengthen the families. Many families don't pray or study the scriptures together. And they don't have family home evening. We will work with this week. 

2)  In your ward, who do you learn the most from?  What do they teach you?

We work a lot with the ward mission leader. He is super cool and he is always exciting about having ward activities. He is the one that is getting us ready to start a branch in that small town. He is the only member there so we will find other people to teach and baptise there. 

3)  What do you focus your studies on?  Mostly reading the Book of Mormon?  The General Conference talks?  PMG?

Preach my gospel and the Book of Mormon. We also focus on what our investigator needs. 

4)  What's your favorite thing to do on Pday?  

As nice as it is to sleep on pday, I really like go out and see more stuff. I think today we are going to the botanical gardens! 

Hope you all have a really good week! Love you all!!

Love 

Elder Wild

Nov 24th, 2013

Oi família! 

I am glad to hear that everything is going well! I didnt get the opportunity to look at the video of Jordan and Brooklyn. But I will try today. I am very happy that my package got there! I will send another one this week with Christmas letters. I want to send some other things, but shipping is super expensive. And the credit card reader at the post office is broken so I would have to use my reserve fund... So we might just have a big Christmas in the summer of 2015 and you will know what its like. The santa here still has a red fur coat. And reindeer. It is pretty wierd to think that it is cold there. It gets really hot here, and then we get a down pour. Last night we were walking and all the sudden it just started pouring. There was nothing we could do so we just kept walking. It was like we just got out of a swimming pool. haha and all the streets were filled with running water. 

This week was a bit hard but I am learning a lot. We are working really hard on this one family. The dad does not like the church so we just stop by when he is not home. But the mom and kids have a strong testimony. She said that every day someone from her church stops by and tells them negative things about the church. But she still comes to church and she stopped drinking coffee. Yesterday, she said that her head hurts, but the pain will pass. This week we will bring a member everyday so that she has more support in the church. 

This week we knocked a lot of doors. We found some really good people that I think have  a lot of potential. Hopefully we can keep working with them. We also met a lot of interesting people. 

This week was the primary program in our ward. It really good. We got to get up and sing with the primary about missionary work. 

This past week the ward had a temple trip. For the temple trips, they sign up in advance, and travel 14 hours to Sao Paulo via tour bus. I heard some really cool stories about this trip. 

I have not yet received your mail... I get mail maybe once a month... We only get mail at zone meetings. We are supposed to have a zone meeting every month. This keeps us more focused. And more excited when zone meetings come around. haha. 

You asked what I am grateful for:

Everything. Bad and Good. If there is no bad, there could be no good. 

But a thing that I am most grateful for is families. My family, and all the families I am helping come unto Christ. 

Thank you for everything!! Hope all goes well! 

Love, 

Elder Wild

ps I am sure you cleaned all my stuff out. There are a few things that I want to make sure are kept safe. My book of mormon (blue hard cover that has lots of markings in it) and the little book of mormon (brown) (handsized) (was a present from Jordan) 

Nov 17th, 2013

Hey family! 

Its good to hear that all the rush is over and things are settling down. Last pday was really good! It was fun to see different parts of Brazil. 

Our mission wide conference was way good. Elder Costa was there. He is the area president of Brasil. He is a really funny guy and taught us a lot of things. I really like these meetings because it gets me excited to go out and teach and find more people. 

My new companion is Brasilian. His name is Elder Cavalcante. He is from Piaui. It is another state here in Brasil. It is super funny and we work and teach well together. He has 4 months left. The other day he got a call from the office asking where the closest airport to his house was. But he is not trunky. 

This week we have been focusing on teaching by the spirit and teaching people not lessons. 

We were walking down the street at night and passed by a house and I felt that we should talk to them, but we kept walking. Later that night we were passing by and we decided to stop and talk to them. While we were making small talk we going to teach them the restoration but right aftet the prayer we both felt that we should teach the word of wisdom. When we were teaching the word of wisdom, we found out that he has abandoned his drug problems but he still has a drinking problem. It is sad cause he has three little kids and a wife (not married yet), but it is exciting to work with him. I can see the potential in this family. But everyone has their agency. This is probably the hardest thing, when you see the potential that people have, and they decide that their life is good enough. 

But I am still in this area and I am still having a great experience. Everyday we have a good plan for the day and I am excited to go out and teach. 

This week we are traveling 3 hours to a nearby city of 3000 people. It is still in our boundaries... hahaha. Our ward mission leader said that there are very many people there that are ready. So he is going to gather as many people as he can and we will come and have a town meeting. hahaha I am excited. Hopefully in a short time we will have a branch out there. 

Now for the questions....

1) Do you have a temple nearby?  Will you be able to attend very often?  

The next temple I will see is in Colorado.... The nearest temple is in Sao Paulo. 

2)  What funny thing happened to you lately?  Laughter is often such a good stress relief and I hope you're able to have lots of it!

So we were teaching a family that attends a certain church a lot. He had a very hard heart and would not consider our message. He would not ask God if it were true. In our message we shared the verse in Amos that talks about how people will have a hunger and thrist for the gospel, but they will not find it (until it is restored.) in the next chapter in Amos. Anyway, he was telling us that we were still looking for the truth and the truth was in his church. He went on and on and on for 20 minutes. Then we asked him to give a prayer before we leave and it was sooo funny! I was laughing so hard. It started out soft and reverent then he started praying faster and louder and it just kept getting faster and louder! hahaha it was like chant before a foot ball game. He asked in the prayer that we will be more enlightened by this visit and we will find the truth. I dont think he heard me laughing because he was praying so loud.  

3)What type of opposition do you encounter?  Are people nice to you, or are they rude?

For the most part, people are nice. People that dont want to hear our message just tell us that they are proud for what we are doing. I have only seen one door slammed in our face. 

Well my time is dwindling..... and I havent written Dad, Jordan, Jayson or Jenna.... I hope all is well at home and everyone is happy! 

Jayson happy Birthday! Your package is in the mail! I sent it a while ago so I hope you get it soon!  Keep on keepin on! 

Jenna- Good luck in French! 

Jordan and Brooklyn! Congrats again! I am happy for you all! 

Dad- Keep working hard and thank you for all you do! 

Warren- I am glad you are safe! Your still an Ironman! 

Love you all!!

Elder Wild

Nov 13, 2013

Hi family....... this week was awesome. Monday, we had a mission wide conference with Elder Costa. He is the area president of Brazil. I learned a lot about working with members and teaching by the spirit.

Today we had a pday. As a zone we woke up at 5am and headed into the jungle. We hiked for a few hours and made it to a waterfall. Super pretty!! 13-14 hours later we are arriving back in our area.... so I need to take a shower to get out and teach so this one will be short. But I will send pictures and a good letter on next pday (monday) The waterfall was sweet!

I finally got jordans wedding invite. It is way cool. Thanks for sending that. I sent a package in the mail last week. I hope it gets to you. It has Jaysons birthday present and a little something for Jordan and Brooklyn. hahahahaha. 

This week was spiritually awesome! Marked dates, saw miracles, marked more dates, it was so awesome! 

We had a zone meeting too. Our zone leader told us to bring the baptism jump suits. Every person in our zone was in this jumpsuit. hahaha It was pretty cool to all be in white. I love these meetings. They give me a lot of motivation to go crazy! (mark dates, talk with everyone, and baptize a lot)

I didn't get transferred but Elder Batista did. He was sad to leave. My new companion is way awesome. Elder Cavalcante. He is super funny and a good missionary. I am way excited about this transfer. 

Well time to take a shower and hit the streets.
Love, 

Elder Wild

ps Donavan and Karla are very serious about me going to Madrid in 2015 for their sealing. He told me that I am a brother to him.... I love their family so much! 

But I also love my family too!!!!

Have a good open house!

Nov 4, 2013

How was San Diego? I am glad to hear that you all had a good time and that the sealing was powerful. I am guessing you guys got in late last night and are super tired. But I was pretty happy saturday. I was thinking and praying for you guys all day. I am happy for Jordan and Brooklyn too. I wish I could have been there, but it is good to be here. 

This week was good. We have been teaching a family that is super funny. They know the Bible very well, but they get distracted easily. We will be teaching them about a simple principle, and they will ask a completely different question that leads our lesson in a different direction. But it is good that we can respond to their questions because every time we respond to their question, they see that our church is true. 

This week I hope to mark a baptism date with them. It will all depend on if I am transferred or not. We have transfers on wed.

This week we recieved a call from the assistant that the President will be in our house in 15 minutes and that we need to be there to present our house. (clean checks). Our house was very clean.  Thanks, Mom!

I sure am grateful to have such a good family. I was so happy to tell people that my family is in California and that my brother is getting sealed to his wife. 

I have been thinking a lot on where I am in my life right now. I can say that I am here because I have had super good parents that have raised me well in the gospel. And have been super strong in the gospel. There is no way that I could get this far on my own. Thank you to my family, and all my leaders. 

I do not have a lot of time this week, but I want to let all of you know that I love you so very much and I am so grateful for everything that you have done for me. My testimony is strong because of the life I was raised in. 

Love,

Elder Wild

Oct 27, 2013

Family!! 

Glad you liked my letter last week! This week I dont have as much time because I have to email the office and the President. But I will will do my best!!! 

The baptism for Karla was so good! I love their family! I was so happy for them. We really didnt have to teach her anyting because she had already been taught. And her husband Donavan is such a cool guy! He prepared to go on a mission, but never went. But he is doing his part now by giving us a lot of good references. And he cooks a lot of awesome food for us. At time we have to leave his house and run to ours because we have to be in by 9:30 but by 10 he delivers a giant meal for us! 

After church I was talking to them, and when we went to their house later that night. They kept talking about getting sealed in the temple I was so happy for them. They are moving to Portugal in January. They are planning on getting sealed in the Madrid Spain Temple. He said that he wants me to be there. He said that many times! He said that he would wait till I go home to be sealed so I can be there for them. So in July of 2015 be ready for a trip to Portugal. hahaaahahaa

This week was pretty cool! I was so happy to be a missionary! Pretty awesome actually! hahaaha I had an interview with the zone leader and he said that I am progressing well. It was a good interview. It showed me that the President really does know each one of us. 

This week we have been teaching Valdivino´s family a lot. They are really good! They said that they could not go to church on sunday because they had to clean the house and wash clothes. We taught them about if we first seek the Kingdom of God, God will bless us. I asked`what do we need to do to seek the Kingdom of God?`` They said ``go to church, read scriptures, pray...`` all really good answers. We asked them if they believed they will be blessed if they sacrifice 3 hours of their day on sunday to go to church, they will be blessed. They said ``yes! we believe this`` Then I asked, `so what will you do tomorrow?`` `He said, ``wash clothes, I just dont have time.`` It was very frustrating. But guess who was at church on sunday? Valdivino´s family!!! haaahahaha  I was so happy to see them and to see their faith and will to serve God.  We will mark a date for their family this week. 

1.)  How is your Portuguese Language going?

It is going really well. I rarely have trouble. I am very grateful for the gift of tongues. 

2.)  Are you studying in Portuguese?  Have you read the whole book of mormon in the portuguese language?

3.)  Do the youth do scouts or something like it in Brazil?

No Brazilians only focus on duty to God. They miss out on a lot. Scouting is a good prep. I love being able to talk about all the crazy camp outs and experiences that I have done because of scouting. 

I have language study everyday. Normally I just read the Book of Mormon. It helps me learn more of the language. I read very slow because I want understand and think about what is going on and how I can help my investigators with the chapters that I read. 

Well time is ticking. I love you all and am super excited for you guys this week! I will be thinking about you saturday!!

Love you All!!!

Elder Wild

Oct 20, 2013

Oi famìlia! Tudo bem? 

This week was way good! Filled with many miracles. At district meeting we got a call from the secretary about how a man stopped him at the bus station and said "hey my wife was baptized 5 years ago but she wasn't confirmed. Can you guys come to our house and teach her the importance?" These people live in our area! hahahaha  If you are not confirmed soon after baptism you have to be baptized again. So we talked with her and her family a lot this week and she is getting baptized on sunday. Her name is Karla, she has 3 boys ages 7, almost 4, and a 1 year old. They are all 3 years a part! hahaha. I told them that they need to have a girl in a few years. The Dad was baptized when he was 14 and said that he wants the gospel in his sons' lives. He said he wants them to all serve missions and to have these blessings. 

This sunday I baptized Mateus. He was a golden investigator. He bought a suit and everything for his baptism. After church yesterday he said that in four years he will be Elder Souza. This made me so happy that he is already making the decision to be a missionary. I was talking to the bishop last night and he said that he already has a calling for him. 

This week we also found a family of 5 that went to church 3 times many years ago when the chapel was nearly an hour away. They said that the Elders that taught them had been transferred so they stopped getting taught. They have a 9 year old daughter who asked a million questions about the United States. She also asked a lot about snow and frozen over ponds. It was really funny. 

How was your missionary week?  How are you!?  Really, how are you doing?

I am doing good. Drinking a lot of water and using sunscreen. Brushing my teeth twice a day, working out every day, walking a lot and eating well. Today I am going to buy more fruit cause lately my diet has been Tang and bread. hhahaha 

1)  Do your days go fast?  Your week? 

Our weeks fly by. We have been pretty busy and working hard. 

2)  Are most people pretty receptive to your message? 

It all depends. We taught this one man who had next to nothing and was a chain smoker. He was content with his life and didn't want to change. Most people will let you in to hear a message. It is hard sometimes because they don't like to say "NO" directly so we have to try to pick up the hints. Normally it is when they don't keep commitments like reading or praying. 

3)  When have you listened to a prompting this week?  And did you act on that prompting?

We are always listening to promptings. So we have a total of 6 missionaries in our ward.  A set of sisters are in our area. Elder Batista and I prayed on where to knock doors. We came up with two streets. It was the same two streets that the sisters had chosen that day too. We found quite a few families on these streets. 

4) What lifelong habits have you learned that are important?  

Reading the scriptures every day. And making your prayers meaningful and sincere. Especially at night and in the morning. 

Another cool thing, a lady in our ward works in the mission office as a worker and she said that there are many boxes of iPads in the Mission office..... I am excited to see where this goes! 

Thanks for praying for me and for everything! 

Love you all very much!!

Love, 

Elder Wild

Oct 13th to Norm

Thats good to hear about the primary program. I hope we have one here in Ipiranga. (Thats the name of our ward)

How many lessons are you and your companion doing a week?

This week our numbers were not super high, but we have been working with the members more and getting references from this. This is a lot more effective. We have a baptism this week. (Mateus) Last night we taught him the plan of salvation and he said that he has 3 friends that he wants us to teach!! This is the most effective way to  find people to teach. (Teach when you find, find when you teach) This is a principle in Preach my Gospel. This is a really good manuel. You should study it too! It is very inexpensive. The whole family can study it! 

How may invitations have you and your companion extended?

I don't know exactly how many invitations I gave this week but my goal for every week is 100. Every person we talk to in the street, door, anywhere, we should invite them to do something. Normally it is to come to church. But when the Spirit tells us, we invite them to hear our lessons. 

Things are going well here! I hope things are going well for you too! I have been praying a lot for you and your business! I know that you will do well! 

Read this scripture: Matthew 6:24-34. These are really good scriptures on how the Lord will provide. 

I love you a lot! Thanks for being a good example!

Elder Wild

Oct 13, 2013

Family!!!

That is good to hear about your week and wedding planning. Did you make a cardboard cutout of me for some of the pictures? hahaha It is coming up pretty fast! I am excited for them. Also good to hear you and Jenna are doing good at running. The  best way to get in better shape is to control what you eat and be active. Keep it up!! Copper 3 when I get home??? 

That quote by Elder Holland was pretty good. I agree with that very much! I think the best thing I have learned so far dealing with hard things is to just stay positive. Life is not easy and it is not supposed to be. Why complain to make things worse? 

This week was pretty good! We had zone conference which was amazing! The President and the Assistants gave a good training session on how to see more miracles. The main principle that we learned was to use faith! We also learned ways we can show our faith. Fasting, prayer, study, and working hard and being obedient 100% of the time. It was a really good meeting. Afterward, they fed us a huge lunch. Rice, beans, and meat. hahaha like every day but they had pineapple and salad too. Its a good thing I like beans and rice. I can thank Jordan for getting me integrated into beans and rice everyday. 

President Kuceki also talked to us at our zone conference about how we need to always be happy and excited! It makes people want to listen to us. 

1)  When did you see the Lords hand in your life this week, or recognize a tender mercy?

I see the Lords hand every minute of the day. This is His work so He has a hand in our work. This week we had a cool experience. We were teaching a couple that just live together and they have 2 little kids. They talked about how they like to party and smoke and drink... But this is our purpose: To invite others to come unto Christ. During the lesson Elder Batista got a phone call and left the room so I started talking to them about how long they have known each other. He said that they had been together for over 5 years, but next year they will get married. The woman got wide eyed and said that this was the first time that he had said that. He said `´yep, I want to get married.` 

We are also having a lot of success with Mateus. He is progressing a lot. Even his family says that they can see a difference in him ever since we have been teaching him. After we baptize him this sunday, I really want to work on his family. 

2)  What is the city you live in like?  What is your apartment like?  Do you take pictures?  I hope you do, they'll help you remember things better later on. 

I am in Goiania. I am in an area of the city called Jardim Nova Esperanca. This is where we live, but we have a lot more ^Jardims`` in our area. A Jardim is like a neighborhood. Did you get the letter that had the pictures of my apartment? I hope so... 

3)  Is your ward very big?  Do you have to give talks/lessons very often?  Do you mostly work with less actives, or finding new people to teach?

Our ward is huge in area! We are working on strengthening the members because we are getting ready to divide the ward. I think it will happen soon but we are not sure when. We dont give talks every sunday. But I have gotten up to bare my testimony. And right now, we are trying to work as much as we can with less actives and recent converts. Normally they are less active because their whole family isn't a member. So we go in, strengthen the less actives, baptize the non members and then we have a strong family. That is the plan. We are working with a few families right now with this. 

As for the companion, all is well. When I stay positive and focus on the good things, I forget/dont see the bad things. 

I am taking pictures. I will send more. I want to write a letter today to send. Hopefully time allows. Our Pdays are always busy. Last week we went to the center of Goiania to a park and ate Burger King. There was subway, Mcdonalds, and all these other American food places. It was funny. It tasted the same. 

One more thing, This week I got to participate in one of those Mormon Helping hands things. Where everyone wears a yellow vest. We went to a retirement home and just talked with everyone there. It was pretty fun to see all the primary kids, youth, and adults help these old people out. It was a good experience. We passed out a lot of copies of The Book of Mormon. My camera died, but Elder Moffitt got some good pictures. 

And I don't think we celebrate halloween or thanksgiving....

Thank you all for writing me! It shows that I am well loved!! hahaha

 

Hope all goes well this week! Good luck with all the wedding planning! 

I love you all very much!

Elder Wild

Oct 7, 2013

So this week the President gave a rule saying if you don't have any investigators to attend conference with you, you can't go... I was super nervous! So we prayed and taught and found. It was sad because some missionaries had to stand out in the foyer until they had investigators. 

It was a good conference. From what I understood... I had to watch it in portuguese which was rough. I learned a lot but it was not the same. To actually hear the Prophet is a blessing! They do voice-overs so occasionally you will hear his voice and a bit of english, but normally just a monotoned translator. A fun fact: Elder Richard G. Scott speaks portuguese so he did a pre recording and they played that during his talk. It was nice to hear an apostles voice. I also liked the choir cause that was in English. For the most part, I understood it. It is just different cause you don't have the intensity of Elder Holland and all the others. 

I really liked President Monsons talk when he talked about his wife. That was really neat! But my favorite thing was that many of the talks were about the members needing to work with the missionaries. It is such a great help when they do! 

But all in all I was just grateful to be there watching conference. I asked one of our investigators (Mateus) what he thought of conference and he loved all of it. He watched the saturday sessions with us. But on sunday he watched it with his family on the internet. His whole family lives on that lot so we teach all of them when we come. They say that they love us coming over and teaching them and that they feel good when we are there. 

This week we had a lot of rain! There was one day when the roads were just rivers. There was about 8 inches of water in the streets. We had to time our crossings perfectly; otherwise, the cars would spray us. I thought it was fun... my companion probably wouldn't agree. 

So I still have my companion... But I think next week we will have another transfer meeting cause a lot of missionaries are done after this week. Elder Batista only has this transfer and one more so everyone thinks he will be transferred. 

The sisters in our area were good this week. They had a baptism. It was right after conference. They haven't had any weird things happen this week which is good. Last week I said that they stayed in our house... Only for 30 minutes while we got the locks changed... just so that is clear! hahaha

Here are some answers to your questions:

Are you getting enough sleep?

Yep, every morning I wake up at 6:25 wide awake and ready to roll. 

  

How is your mission going? 

It is going good. Companion is tough. I am living by the principle "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." So I will leave it at that. But I am working hard. 

 

Are you getting immersed into the Portuguese language?

Portuguese is a fun language. I taught an english class last week and it was really hard to speak in english. This is really good! haha. Conference in portuguese was a good experience. But it would be nice to hear in english next time.  I tried teaching in English a while ago, it was hard. But it is a blessing to be able to teach in a different language. 

Are you able to visit a single ward and how big is the ward?

Not sure if there is a singles ward... but our ward is huge. 

Hope all is well for the wedding! Sorry to add stress on top of that about my message not getting through last week. 

So I kept the family tradition going. I went and bought candy. it was 27,50 or something. So in our dollars around $12. It was fun to eat the candy in the chapel. 

I cant remember if I said this in the last email or not but I made cookies for some of our recent converts. They liked them a lot! Although in Brazil they only have margarine so it is not the same, but it is fun to make different food for them. 

I will be praying for you all!

Love 

Elder Wild

Thanks for everything!!! 

Sept 30, 2013

First off, I want to thank you very much for your package. The pictures were awesome!! I liked the annotations on the back too! Foi muito bom. I am very grateful to have such a loving family! You don't know how lucky I am! I know missionaries that say their family writes them and tells them that they will not be at the airport to pick them up. I could not even imagine this! I am so grateful to have a family that prays for me, and that writes me, and sends me letters and pictures every month! Every time I think about how blessed I am, I want to cry! So thank you very much!!

If you want me to answer questions this is the best way cause it is right in front of me and I wont forget! ahaha

1)  What kinds of food do you eat?

Rice and Beans. haha but lately the Members have been getting to know us better and have BBQ with us. It is way good. The meat is grilled perfectly. Almost matches Ruths grilling. 

2)  Are most of the people Brazillian, or do they come from all parts of the world?

Everyone is Brazilian. There are people from different states of Brazil but they are all from Brazil. They all look different though. Some are darker than others, and few are even whiter than me. 

3)  Do you walk everywhere, or take a bus?  Is the church very far away?

We are blessed and the chapel is a 5 min walk. But mostly we walk everywhere. But we use the bus a lot too. Our area is the biggest area in the mission. it is huge!!!! We have one city in our area that is 60km away. I haven't been there yet. Our Bishop wants us to work in the areas closer to the chapel because we need to strengthen this area. 

4)  Do you have a ward mission leader you work with, or just with the bishop?  

Our mission leader is amazing! He is a very hard worker and is always helping us with new ways and getting referrals for us. But we work with the bishop too. He is an amazing man. He has 4 very young kids. And lives about an hour and a half bus ride from the chapel. And he doesn't have a car, so he uses the bus. His family is awesome! He is such a great man! 

5)  What do you do on your p-day?

P-day... We study till 10, then we go email, then we buy food, clean our house, take a nap, write letters, and then back to missionary work. Today we are going to go to a store that has a lot of ties for really cheap. I asked a member this week if there were any national park type things. I will try to go to one to really see Brazil. Not just the city...

This week was awesome! First off, we had a baptism for Sandila. I really didn't think she would pass the interview but she did. Barely. Under the condition that we work with her a lot after baptism. But after the baptism and when she received the gift of the Holy Ghost, I could see a huge difference. She was more happy, she was more excited. It was awesome! Her family was baptized a few months ago but she didn't want too. Now her family is complete!!

You always ask for a scripture, and I always forget. So this week I will do better. Read the topical guide description for Zion. This week I studied a little about zion. I explained to the members that it is important that we build zion. Moses 7:18 and then the blessings of building zion 1 Ne 13:37? I think... Member missionary work is very key in building Zion and making the ward stronger. 

This week I did not get transferred. I was bummed at first. I wanted to stay in the ward but I wanted change. But at the transfer meeting, I was happy and felt the Christ like love for Elder Batista. I haven't had any problems with him since. I told him that I wanted to work harder with the members because our old way was not working (knocking doors). This week we have a goal to not knock a single door. We are going to work through the members, recent converts, and less actives. It is amazing how many more references we get by doing this. 

Also, The stake President came and visited us this week and told the ward council that the members need to make a greater effort in giving references to the missionaries. I was so happy to hear this! 

Also this week, the other set of missionaries got transferred to another city in our area, and we got a group of sisters. It was interesting. This week they were chased by 3 men. They ran to a members house and waited there. Then a member came and picked them up in his car and brought them to their house. Earlier this week, they lost their keys so they haven't been locking their door. But they do have a lock to the gate and the other door. But when they returned one night, their door was locked.... spooky? But its all good now. They changed the lock and we haven't had any problems since. 

Well I am running low on time, And there are a lot more stories that I want to tell you, but they will just have to wait till when I come home! hahahaha

Dad, I am sorry I can't write you this week, But I am glad to hear you are getting better gas mileage. 

Mom, I bought some sunscreen with the credit card. should be around 30 dollars. 

family- Again, thank you for sending me letters and the photos. I am so blessed!!!!

Jayson, congrats on the Brazilian. 

Love,

Elder Wild

Sept 23rd, 2013

Thank you for thinking of me and sending that package!

Generally I would say that I can go without the conference treats but because you said that I need to keep the family tradition going, I will. haha

I am excited for general conference too! I'm not sure if I will be able to watch it in english or not. And I think we watch it the weekend after you so that they can do all the voice overs.  It will be a good opportunity to invite people to come out and listen to the prophet. 

This has been a crazy week. We have two sets of elders in our ward and one of the elders finished his last transfer this week. So now we are in a trio. Transfers are this week. I don't know if we will be transferred or not but people keep calling us to make sure that our house is super clean, and that our Area Book is all nice and neat. So I think there is a good chance that we will be transferred. 

The language is getting better and better as always. It is good to see the lords hand in helping me learn the language. 

This week we didn't teach very many lessons which was a bummer but every lesson we did have was amazing. The spirit was super strong and the people want to learn more. But they don't pray. My companion has interesting ways of getting people to be baptized. He likes to find the elect. (the people that are basically ready to be baptized), BUT there are so many more people that we can work  with. My zone leader told me to just follow and I will have my chance to do things my way some day. Right now, I just have to have faith that this will work. We had another baptism in our ward this week. It was the sister and her son of a family that were baptized two years ago. It was a good baptism service. 

My companion is a good guy and he likes to help me. I have learned a lot from him. The best way for us to get along is to just talk to each other. It gets boring sometimes when we just walk in silence. But I have faith that it will get better. 

This week we also found out how big our area is. For one, our Bishop lives 60km away. We had lunch in a different city on sunday. It was about a 40 minute bus ride out to the city, and a fifteen minute walk. When we came back, the bus did not stop to pick us up because it was already full. So we crossed the street and took the bus further away from our city and back around. It was about an hour and half. I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke up, there were so many people on the bus! It was very packed. It was a good thing we did this cause the bus just kept going past the stop we were waiting at. 

This week I focused on talking with everyone in the street. It made the work so much more fun because I was able to share short messages and make appointments for the weekend. It makes me a lot more happy and less tired when I do this. And people ask me which state I am from because my accent is different. I tell them that I am from the United States and they are impressed with my language. They ask me how long I have been studying the language. And I say: almost three months. And they don't believe me. They tell me that it is impossible. hahaha. I tell them that with the power of God it is possible. 

Thank you for all your prayers of safety and strength! They are  working! 

I love you all! 

Elder Wild