Week 24 - Tweaker Nation

 Hey guys! Hope you’re all doing well. Mission life is weird. I’ve almost been out 6 months which is wild. The world just keeps on moving. All my siblings are getting big too. I’m going to come back to literally a different family. I was talking to my old pal Peter on the phone, the youngest of my siblings who is almost two. I didn’t even know the kid could speak english, but upon asking him how he was doing he responded with “go away”. Ouch. Not only am I getting rejected by the people we’re teaching but my own family doesn’t want to see me. Haha just kidding. But yea our mission schedule has been goin kinda nutso lately and I don’t understand why we’re having so many Tuesday P-days but yea.

Angry/Insecure Couple

Crazy Party!!!

Tweakers

Benediction

Angry/Insecure Couple

I never thought this day would come but I’m officially starting to lose motivation in putting effort into these emails haha. They told me that 6 months in it would get hard and I didn’t believe them but yea it’s tough. But yea some interesting stuff went down this week. I was doing some facebook finding and this chick completely raged at me for literally just sending “hi” to her and she said her boyfriend is super mad at me too. This lady looked like she was in her 50’s and her and her boyfriend got all mad at me for saying “hi” and offering service. Anyways she started swearing at me and going off about how I was harassing her so I was just like “sorry hope you have a good day” and ignored her. Then I got a text from her boyfriend over facebook raging at me for messaging his girlfriend. Like bruh I’m not cushin’ on your woman. She’s not even cute. I’m 18 and she’s gotta be like 50. Plus I’m a missionary. Anyways, that was kind of annoying. That’s got to be a super unstable relationship if this dude literally flips at me reaching out and saying hi. Then it got even more intense because our bishop texted us and was like “hey do you (whatserbucket)?”. So apparently this chick was still rage full at me messaging her and was complaining to one of her co-workers or something who’s a member who told the bishop. Anyways it was all just pretty dumb. Some people haha.  

Crazy Church Party!!!

Also this week we had a fantastic idea. We decided we’d do a “movie night” at the church and invite everybody we’re teaching to watch a spiritual church movie. We didn’t want to totally specify that it was a church movie so we just said “we’re watching a church movie”. Anyways one dude was like “what movie is it”, and I said “The Wondrous Adventures of Elders Wride and Powell: the sequel”. That actually got him excited and he was like “okay sweet what time” and then I was like “Jk it’s a movie about Jesus” and he ghosted us after that. We invited like 20 or so people and got popcorn and stuff. Well, guess what? Nobody showed up! It was heartbreaking but also funny. I wasn’t surprised. Anyways so I took a picture of our empty church room with all the empty chairs and sent it to a group chat with some people we’re teaching and was like “hey we ended up having a few extra seats! Feel free to stop by!”. Even with my charming sense of humor nobody came. Anyways a super bomb member named Brother Shaffer came to watch it with us and we watched “the Testaments” with him. So that was cool.

Tweakers

But yea you guys a ton of stuff went down this week but I don’t have the time or motivation to talk about all of it. I guess one more thing I can tell you about is “tweakers”. So “tweakers” are what people use to call “crackheads”. They are everywhere here in Paris. Anyways, for some reason, I have a deep fascination with tweakers haha. A good chunk of our teaching pool are tweakers. They are just so funny. So we talk to a lot of tweakers, and I think we may have just become super tight with the king tweaker. We were driving around the other day and I smile and wave at everybody I can, including all tweakers. Anyways so we were stopping by a lady we’re teachings place to say hi, and apparently this dope tweaker who I had waved at a while ago lives right above her. So he saw us and said he wanted to hear our message. When we talked to him he was like “yea man I saw you wave at me and I thought ‘nobody here smiles and waves at people...they must be the latter-day saints!’”. So that was cool! We were about to teach him the restoration but some other tweakers came up and he said we had to dip but we got his contact information. He also told us that he runs the hood around here and to let him know if anyone gives us any trouble. One of the other guys who came in saw us and was like “I know Joseph Smith!” and in my head I was like “ye whatever man” and then he was like “It was just his birthday!”, which was true! Joseph Smith’s birthday was on the 23rd of Dec.. But yea these guys are awesome. One of them gave me a hug on our way out. Man the gospel is so good! Anyways, it was great to talk to these guys. It’s honestly a lot easier in a lot of ways to teach those who have a lot of trials. They are humble and more willing to listen. And I’ve always just loved talking to people who are kinda odd I guess. I remember drivin around with Elder P before the mission and we saw this homeless dude with his thumb out asking for a ride and I was like “bruh lets give him a ride somewhere”. I just love talking to these interesting people. Sometimes it gets scary haha, but it’s always turned out good. When we were talking to this dude I was looking for the spirit to tell me if we should dip or not but I just felt peace. I know that he is a child of God, with divine potential. He just doesn’t know it yet. But hopefully we’ll help him get there. He also was telling us that there’s some portals around this town that lead to different dimensions and stuff and I was just like “yooo what!?” so he told us where one of the portals was. We stopped by there last night but have yet to see the portal. He also told us that he believes in a “Star God” who spits out stars. So that was cool! I was honestly super interested in his message. But yea we’re gonna see him again this week and talk more. I’m super excited for it. 

Benediction

Aight now for something spiritual! So like I said last week it’s been a struggle lately. Just feel like I was called to serve and then I come out here and get wrecked and see nothing good come from it. But this week during lunch Elder Powell was watching a video on his phone. It’s a parable of this guy who God asks to go and push a giant rock. The guy every day goes out and pushes on the rock with all of his might. Long story short, after several months of pushing the rock all day, nothing happens. The rock doesn’t move. The guy complains to God, saying how he is a failure and how he has pushed the rock all day every day and nothing has happened. Then God tells him, “I asked you to push the rock. Not once did I ask you to move it. It is my job to move the rock.”. I had major spiritual vibes when I heard this, because it is literally me. God has asked me to come and push the rock, or invite others to come unto Christ. Nowhere in our purpose as missionaries does it say that our success is measured by baptisms. That is God’s job. Nothing I do will convert anyone. It’s the power of God and the Holy Ghost that converts people to the Gospel. I’m just the messenger. Anyways, hearing that really hit me. I have been called to push the rock, and God’s job is to move it. So yea I’m feeling a lot better about it know. If I go out and push the rock all day, I am fulfilling my purpose. It may never move, but I will become super strong from pushing it. I will become swol. Side note, I need some major motivation when it comes to working out if you guys wanna send some prayers in my behalf. Our scale here is broken so I haven’t checked my weight for a fat minute and I’m kind of terrified to. But yea I want to get swol but have no motivation. But yea there ya go.

One more spiritual thought: the Book of Mormon is true you guys! Go read it please. I remember reading some of my older brother Joe’s emails while he was on his mission and he’d be like “read the Book of Mormon!” and I’d be like “ye whatever bro” and I’d just play more on hooda math/poptropica. But now I have such a greater understanding of the importance of doing it. Please please please go read that blue book. It is true. It’s purpose is to make you happy, and heal your soul. Like it says in Jacob 2:8-

“And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul.”

The Book of Mormon will heal your soul. Why? Because it’s God’s word. Joseph Smith was a prophet. I honestly get teary eyed every time I think about that man. What a legend. He did so much for this Gospel and for all our personal benefit. Let’s not waste that sacrifice. And of course, more importantly, let’s not waste the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the center of all things. 

I hope you guys had a great Christmas and are able to see clearly how true this gospel really is. Everything about life points back to the savior! Everything!

Alright I’m done now. Go ahead and email me if you want. Sorry that I haven’t been the best at responding. I’ll go through right now and try to respond to people I forgot to haha. 

Have a good week fellas! The church is true!

-Elder Wride

Week 23 - Sup people on my weekly

Sup

Not much to say this week. Nothing super interesting. My ukulele and spikeball pro came so that was fun. Since we’re in paris I learned how to play “Le Festin” from Ratatouille on the uke. It is so hype. 

Had some good teaching appointments this week. Met this guy named Brian and he’s on date for baptism which is neat. Debra isn’t on date anymore and we’re not really sure where she is currently. Oh me and my comp both bought spiderman masks which is also neat. After we bought them we decided to have a contest to see who could wear it the longest and the whole ordeal ended with us wrestling trying to yank the other persons mask off. (I won btw)

Also today I cut my own hair. It got really scary for a second but I think it looks okay now. 

Also this week we got in contact with these two kids who would have been baptized already but they lost contact with the missionaries, so we are working with them right now to help them get baptized. 

This week wasn’t super great. Key indicators wise, it was great. 5 new people, 2 at church, 1 invite for baptism, and one on date for baptism. But mentally, I’m getting kinda wrecked haha. The mantle of being a missionary is super heavy and sometimes it feels like my back is about to snap. But I’ll just keep going and things will work out. They always have.

One thing that helped me this week was the song “Climb Every Mountain” from the sound of music by Tabcats. Made me feel more determined to keep pushing. Also yesterday I heard something where this lady said something along the lines of “these trials are preparing you”. That hit really hard, and I know that all of these hard times will work together for my good and that I will be better for it. The Lord is preparing me for roles and responsibilities he’s gonna need me to hold in the future. So that was neat!

But yea I hope you all have a very merry christmas and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! Haha jk. Have a good week y’all.

Week 22 - Trunky spray, brownies, cops, etc. 🙇‍♂️

 What’s up people on my weekly! Hope you all are doing well! Man this week was freaking nutso. So I’m just gonna start writing and hope I can remember stuff. Should be a party! Hope you enjoy! Everyone in the mission here gives me crap for spending so much time on writing my emails but I don’t care because it’s lit. My companion hasn’t written a weekly email for a year haha. So that’s cool. But yea boy let’s dive into this email! 

Trunky Spray

“We’ll bam you”

Elder Pugsley Goofed

Soy Tonto

Tik Tok Exposure

Dominos and Sketchy Peeps

Scavenger Hunt

Cops and Brownies

Concluding Remarks

TRUNKY SPRAY

Okay so trunky spray has been a scary part of my week. So like I mentioned a while ago, this apartment was a sisters apartment for a long time, so we’re finding a bunch of interesting items and such. We found some perfume the sisters had left, and upon our discovery, we changed the name to “trunky spray”. The missionary term “trunky” is what us missionaries refer to those who are quite homesick, meaning that they want to pack their "trunk" and go home, thus being, "trunky". Anyways, we labeled it "trunky spray", because I guess Elders want to go home when they smell perfume.

My first encounter with the spray was when good ‘ol Elder McNeil stopped by here a few weeks ago. He ran into my room and started squirting the spray all over my bed. I was outraged, and was able to pin him down and spray him with it as well so he would smell like a girl all day.

I haven’t had too many problems with the trunky spray, until this week. Elder Powell sprayed me with it and I was super annoyed, so while he was in the bathroom before we went to bed, I sprayed his entire pillow with loads of it. After we said goodnight and he laid down, I waited in great anticipation for him to rage at me. But, there was just silence. And then, he gave a big ‘ol sniff. There was a lot of sniffing for the next 15 minutes haha and I was dying. He secretly likes the trunky spray!

After I sprayed his pillow, I hid the spray in a place where I thought he would never find it. 

The next day we were heading out so I went to grab my sweater from my closet. I opened my closet door and just got the biggest whiff of trunky spray. I was outraged. I confronted him and asked if he had sprayed all of my clothes with trunky spray. He was silent, but I could smell the guilt and fear from off of him. Then I became determined not to leave the apartment until I had located the trunky spray and destroyed it and it’s satanic influence. I spent a good 15-20 minutes looking, with no success. We were running late though, so I just went with some “toilet spray” the sisters left behind and sprayed his clothes with it. Still not sure if he knows I did that. But to this moment, I do not know where the trunky spray is, but when I find it, I will be sure to put it somewhere where it can do no more harm.

“WE’LL BAM YOU”

Haha okay so one of my sources of entertainment is this giant facebook group with a ton of missionaries. It’s basically just a group that helps us missionaries receive and send referrals. Everyday people post in there looking for people who speak foreign languages and are serving in foreign areas. But ya anyways me and Elder Pugsley always tag each other on those posts just because it’s funny. People will be like “Anyone speak Swahili?” and then we’ll tag each other haha. Apparently we’ve created a problem because they recently updated the rules for the group, one of them saying that “if you say you are serving somewhere where you aren’t, or can speak something that you don’t we’ll bam you from this group!”. I think they meant to say “ban” but someone goofed and wrote “bam”. So I’ve stopped tagging Elder Pugsley in fear that I will get “bammed”. I don’t want to find out what that entails.

ELDER PUGSLEY GOOFED

This was SO funny. So last night we had a huge zoom call with the entire mission. I privately messaged Elder Pugsley to ask how his kid (trainee) is doing, and he accidentally responded with “bueno” to the whole mission. Me and Elder Powell were crying. It was so funny. I’ll attach a screenshot.

SOY TONTO

So every night we say goodnight and Elder Powell will say “love you Elder”. Except I wanted to shake things up, so the other night I told him he needed to say it in spanish. He doesn’t know any spanish haha, so I told him that to say “I love you” in spanish you say “soy tonto" which in english is “I am dumb”. So the past two nights he’s like “soy tonto” and I respond with “yo se”. Except last night he said “soy tonto caca”. Not sure what he meant to say but it was really funny. 

TIK TOK EXPOSURE

We were at someones house to pick of some egg nog bread and on the way out I was saying bye to all the kids. This one girl on the couch had her homework opened, but her phone on top of her homework with Tik Tok opened. I had no idea she was trying to hide the fact that she was on tik tok from her grandma, until on the way out I was saying bye to everyone and when I got to her I was like “enjoy the tik tok”. There was a moment of silence, and then the grandma looked at her and was like “you’re on Tik Tok?”. She was like “uhhhhh no” and then the grandma got pretty upset and said certain words and then the girl tried to hurry and uninstall it and yea. I had totally just created a family issue haha and then were like “okayyy bye” and left. 

DOMINOS & SKETCHY PEEPS

This week has been especially awesome because I have decided to stop being lazy and just talk to everyone. So, it started off with us in the dominos drive thru. Due to lots of study, fasting, and prayer, my testimony has gotten super internalized. I know now, more than ever before, that this work is true. Since I assuredly know that, I have no reason to be scared to talk to everyone. So we were in the Dominos drive thru, and after we paid and ordered I was like “Hey man, so we have come all the way from…”. I didn’t want to say Utah, because that turns people off I feel like and there’s a lot of stereotype around it, so instead of saying saying “Utah” I said “...them Rocky Mountains.”. It was pretty funny. Elder Powell got a good giggle after that. But I was like “yea we’ve come all the way from dem rocky mountains and are wanting to share a message of peace and hope with people. Can we share this message with you sometime?”. 

He said that he had other customers to help haha but that he’d talk to us when he brought our pizza out to our car. So 20 minutes later, he came out and said “what’s up?”. Me and me and Elder Powell just popped off haha. We taught him a brief restoration, gave him a Book of Mormon, and invited him to meet with us again soon. We’re gonna meet with him this week and play pool and talk about the Gospel. It was so great. 

After that experience, I decided to talk to everyone when I can. We were driving home a few days later, and saw some guys, who were all dressed in black and looked pretty sketch. I was driving so I pulled over to this one guy and asked if he wanted to hear a message of peace and hope. He said not right then but we could come to his house tomorrow. We gave him a BOM and when he saw it he smiled and said that he just got out of prison and had found Jesus. It was hype! So we’re gonna meet with him again soon. 

Right after we talked to this guy, we saw another guy dressed in dark with his hood on walking in the alley way. I pulled over and did the same thing to him. Got his number and are gonna talk to him later this week. 

Point is, everybody here on earth chose this plan and chose to come to earth. All of us are children of God and are all loved equally by him. We need to give everybody a fair chance at hearing this Gospel. 

There were a couple different times this week where we’d offer to teach someone, and some said no haha, and that’s okay! My purpose is an invitation. Every time someone tells me “no”, I am fulfilling my purpose just as much as I am being told “yes”. So this week was awesome especially for all of these cool interactions we’ve had with people on the street. 

SCAVENGER HUNT

Man this story is big time funny. So this past wednesday me and Elder Powell held a youth activity over zoom. There’s not much we can do over zoom, so we did a scavenger hunt. Basically how the game worked is we would say an item, and then everybody would scamper and try to find it in wherever they were located, and then the first one to show us the item we asked for on their screen got a point and would get to pick the next item that everyone else would look for. Anyways, we were playing, and some kid got a point so he got to pick the next item. Then for the next item he goes, “coffee cream!”. We all just kinda sat there, because this is a youth activity and nobody should have coffee haha, except this one kid who bolted out of his room and came back with some coffee stuff. We just looked at him and were like “uhhhh good job” but yea. On one of my turns to pick an item, I picked a “journal”, so everybody went off and grabbed their journals. Except most everybody got back at the same time, and I didn’t know who I should give the point to. So I told the kids to read a journal entry and depending on how good it was I would give them more points. It was super funny haha. I mostly said it as a joke but got some interesting journal entries. We played the game for like an hour or so, and by the end of it, it was total chaos. Me and Elder Powell lost motivation with keeping track of points accurately, and if somebody on our list didn’t have a lot of points we would just give them some. But the whole process was intense because I had promised to make and take brownies to the winner, so everybody was trying to win. But we had kept track of points super badly so everybody was neck and neck. Finally at the end of the hour, I was like “alright, who wants more points”. Many hands went up, so I went around and asked each person how many points they wanted. I negotiated pretty well. My conversation with one kid was 

“okay, how many points do you want”. 

“Ten”

“That’s too high. How bout three?”

“Six”

“We’ll give you two”

Man anyways, I was laughing super hard the whole way through. Then at the very end the points were super wacked up so I had everybody vote for who should get the brownies. Luckily, we eventually came to a unanimous decision.

COPS & BROWNIES

So after we promised the winner of the scavenger hunt brownies, we went to take them over a few nights later. We parked at what we thought was the right house, but it wasn’t, so we just left our car there and went walking around to find the right house. Long story short…. 

The person who's house we parked at called the cops on us for “suspicious activity” and the cops somehow got our address so we were pulling into our driveway and a bunch of lights went on and some cops came to our door expecting something to go down and then they saw that we were missionaries with a bunch of brownies and I was like “want some brownies?” and one cop said no because he’s trying to lay off the sweets and then the cops left. 

CLOSING REMARKS

A lot of really funny stuff went down this week, as you can tell. But that’s not why it was great. It was awesome because we taught so many people the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week. No better feeling than that! Last night we had a lesson with a really good guy named Charles. I think I mentioned him last week. He’s really great, but doesn’t seem to process what we’re teaching him. He’s been meeting with the missionaries for 20 years. He loves to sit down and talk, but just hasn’t progressed. I know it’s the Book of Mormon that he needs to read in order to develop that testimony, and it just hasn’t happened. We sat down with him and I said “did you read the Book of Mormon chapter we left with you?”. He said emphatically, “No! Are you gonna send me to the principal's office?”. We just kinda sat there awkwardly and were like “okay we’ll read it together” so we opened up the Book of Mormon and read the first three chapters of Nephi with him. He didn’t really seem to pay much attention at all which made me kinda sad. He wouldn’t read it with us so we asked him to follow along, but he just closed his book and listened. Then at the end of the lesson I invited him to be baptized if he came to know the Book of Mormon was true. He said he would do that if he knew it was true. I asked him if he would read 2 Nephi 31. He said “probably not”. Then I was like “pretty please?”. Then I kinda went on a little rant saying that I would be the happiest man alive if he would read the Book of Mormon. A couple more times I said “please” and “pretty please”. He seemed to be flattered somewhat. Then when we left he texted us saying “I read some of it. Call me.”. I was so happy! We talked for a second about baptism and he had some questions. I told him that I about fell off my chair when I saw his text and he laughed. It was pretty awesome. But basically he’s starting to read the Book of Mormon which is awesome. Only took 20 years. So we had some great lessons this week. We also did some yardwork for this sweet old lady named Janet. We went to lunch with her last week if you remember. Anyways after we raked her leaves she wanted to go see the yard but needed help walking so I walked her across her lawn. Elder Powell was walking behind me and came in clutch by snapping a picture. It was dope haha. I love the people here. Debra, isn’t doing as well. She just processes things very slowly and its hard to teach her. We took her off date for baptism which was sad, but we felt it was the right thing to do. If we really wanted to push her, we could make it happen this week, but that doesn’t feel right. I don’t just want a baptism, I want a convert baptism, and I don’t yet feel like she’s understanding the Gospel in the way that she should before getting baptized, so we’ll see what happens with that. But there are so many people we are visiting with, it’s kinda nuts. I don’t have time to talk about all of them, but just know I am super busy and that so many people are waiting to hear the gospel.

I want you guys to know the power of prayer. It is so real! In the past when I've wanted something, I don’t get the Lord involved. That is extremely idiotic. The Lord should be involved in all that we do, and if we really believe in this Gospel and really care about receiving an answers to questions we have, why wouldn’t we go to him first? Why ask anyone besides the one person who has the answer? So every night this week I have been praying for things that I really want, and they are being fulfilled. I just want you guys to know that prayer is the primary way to receiving comfort and answers. 

I think of 1 Nephi 15. Laman and Lemuel don’t understand the teachings of Lehi, and Nephi’s response to them in verse 8 is “Have ye inquired of the Lord?”

For all you guys who are having doubts, problems, trials, questions, I’d ask the same thing. Have ye inquired of the Lord? Have you taken the time to ask the one person who knows how to help you perfectly? That’s what I have been doing lately, and it’s brought so many blessings. If you need help, ask the Lord, and if it really is something that’s truly important to you, you will turn to the Lord. When things get hard, we have two options. To go toward or away from the Savior. The way we choose to go says a lot about ourselves. Decisions determine destiny. 

As for this Gospel, it’s either true, or it is not. The Book of Mormon is either the word of God as it claims to be, or it is not. Joseph Smith was either a prophet, or he wasn't. There is no middle ground. We all need to go and figure this stuff out for ourselves. It really is true, though, and that is a promise. I have no doubts about that. It’s an awesome feeling. And remember that the church doesn’t want or require you to believe anything that isn’t true. 

So yea guys, just remember that this is all true and do what it takes to get that testimony. If you really want it, you will get it. But it’s by the small and simple things that it happens, like reading and praying every day. Start simple, and big progress will be made. 

I can’t say enough how true this Gospel is, but I can promise you guys it’s legit. Make the Gospel of Jesus Christ the primary influence in your life, and you will become everything that the Lord has destined you to become. 

I’m gonna dip now, but thanks for reading this if you did. Hope you are now inspired haha. Have a good week! Send me an email if you so desire ‍♂️

And sorry if I don’t get the chance to respond, but know that I love you guys and I read them haha. Oh, also I wanted a spikeball pro and a ukulele from my parents for Christmas, but they said no haha. So this week I blew a fat ton of money on my own uke and a spikeball pro. Super hyped! I’ll let you guys know how that goes. Also for all you missionaries out there, we got celestial tiwi this week. Picture attached below. It was a essing

Adios hermanas!

Week 21 - I shared the gospel with people this week which was pretty cool

Hey guys! What’s poppin?! Hope you’re all doing fantastic! I’m doing pretty decent myself. I have to be honest, I have no idea what to write you guys. It literally feels like yesterday I wrote and now I gotta do it again. I’m running out of stuff to say. So for this email I’m just gonna talk a little bit about some of the people we got in contact with this week. 

Plew

We were walking to a park and this guy walked by us and was like “are you guys Mormons? I was like “yessir” and then he grabbed a pitchfork and started chasing us. Thankfully, Elder Powell brought his hockey stick so we used that to fight him off and we knocked him to the concrete and took his wallet. 

Haha jk that’s not how it went. Thankfully. But, that’s how I thought it was about to go when he asked us if we were Mormons. But yea I was like “yuh” and then we stopped and talked for a second. This guy is dope. Apparently he played one of the kids in “Little Rascals”! Also, apparently Alphalpha (don’t know how to spell that) from “Little Rascals” is from here! But yea he told us that and then he started going off swearing about how much he hates the people in this community. In his own words, “the people here couldn’t even make it in Hell”.

He just came out of a gas station so I’m guessing he had some beef with the people in there. But yea It’s moments like this where I’m thankful for masks, because he couldn’t see me low key laughing. Other than periodically raging about how much he hates Paris, he was super chill and nice and we’re gonna talk to him later and get more information on his Little Rascal role. He’s also a huge/buff dude, and he said he’s a street fighter. But yea his name is Plew, so if you guys can do some research and find out who he was in little rascals that would be great. He told us the name but I forgot. 

Shelina + Fam 

Shelina and her family are doing good! This week we watched the restoration movie in spanish with them. It was awesome, and they are getting more and more ready for their baptism. Got a cute pic with me and her two kids using filters in Facebook Messenger.

Charles

So we’ve been doing a lot of just calling old contacts. We called this guy named Charles and asked if we could tell him about serving people this December (Light the World). He said no because he’s not Mormon. Ha! Rip! I guess just “Mormons” are able to do service. Weird. But yea he’s super cool! We asked if we could do a lesson and he basically said no, but then was like “you guys should come over and sit on my new couch”. Haha so we did, and guess what he wanted to talk about...what we believe! Who would have guessed. But he’s super cool and we got to talk to him about our beliefs more. He gave us a little pamphlet he made and told us that if we read it we would be “born again Mormons”. So I am happy to announce that I am a born again member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It feels great. I had no idea salvation was this easy. At the end of the pamphlet it said “...you are now a Born Again Christian and you will be admitted into Heaven. Praise Jesus Christ for your salvation from hell. Hallelujah.”.

So that was neat! But he’s a super nice guy and I loved talking with him. I’ve loved being a missionary and seeing how the Lord works through everyone. We all have a relationship with God that we spend our lives trying to develop. He’s been meeting with missionaries for like 20 years so idk how good our chances are of helping him read and pray about the BOM but we’ll see. But it was a cool experience and he’s a super Christ-like guy who has a sincere desire to do what’s right. Hopefully we can help him see the truthfulness of this restored Gospel. 

Carmella

We also did a lot of service this week. We went to this old abandoned barn filled with garbage and sorted it for this awesome lady named Carmella. The highlight was that we found some super old watches from “The Phantom Menace” (1999)! It was so cool! I now have an antique Obi-wan watch. I will attach pics.

Janet

We also went out to lunch with this lady named Janet. She is so funny! She’s pretty old haha but she really likes missionaries and has been meeting with them for a long time. We talked for like 3 hours and it was great. She also asked about the apostles and asked “which one is the German one?” and I was like “Elder Uchtdorf” and then she said grinning “I would really like to meet him.”. Haha I don’t know what it is with all these ladies crushing on Elder Uchtdorf but apparently it’s a thing with non-members too!

The Kirks

The Kirks are a super cool family we got in contact with and they are awesome. The other day we went and played pool with some of the older kids and it was a lot of fun. Super excited to get to know them better. Elder Powell had some chili for dinner and I don’t know what it did to him but he had the worst case of hiccups ever. It sounded like he was barking. 

Debra

Debra had a rough week. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and even though she is living it, she really struggled with the concept. So we pushed back her baptism to the 19th. But yea she’s kinda struggling and we’re worried about her but we will keep striving and hopefully things work out!

I’m gonna call it there for this week fellas! Hope you have a good week and remember what’s most important, and that is the Gospel! You guys, I really do know this is true. It’s more than something I believe, it’s something I know. That doesn’t mean I understand it perfectly, but I know enough to know that it’s true. I have many questions, but no doubts. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that is the keystone of it all. If you haven’t read it lately, shame upon you. Haha jk. But low key yea shame upon you. How could you not read it! This is what you need more than anything. 

Also this week I was thinking about people who leave the church. We talked to this dude and he pointed out that people leave our church. “If it’s true, why do people leave it?” he said. Well, I thought that was a cheap shot. The fact that something is true doesn’t guarantee that everyone will believe it. I mean the earth is round, yet people like Elders Truman Pugsley and George Lewis think it’s flat! Does that mean we should question whether or not the earth is round? No. The opposition towards the church is a testament to me that it is true. 

A scripture I read this week that expounded on this concern was Alma 24:30-

“And thus we can plainly discern that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things.”

Just thought that was interesting. I know it can be hard growing up in the church because we don’t always fully appreciate how much we really have, but I can promise you guys that nothing else will satisfy you like this Gospel does. Stick with it, because everything will make sense one day. 

Have a good week! My inbox is always open 

Week 20 - loving the boonies!🤾‍♂️

 Hey what’s poppin fellas! I hope you’re all doing quite well. I am doing well myself. This week was pretty dope so let’s just get right into it. 

1. Guys, President is joining

2. Getting to Work

3. Other Mission-type stuff

1. Guys. President is joining.

So as you guys can probably tell, I like to have fun haha. Don’t worry, I am working super hard, but I like to have fun along the way. I have worked harder this week than ever, but also laughed harder this week than ever. Man so many hilarious things going on. But anywho, I take great pleasure in pranking people. So we were doing a zoom call on Elder Powell’s phone, which meant that my phone was still available. Then a spark of brilliance came to my mind. Using my phone and zoom account, I changed my name to “Trevor Bell”, which is our mission President’s name, and then changed my profile picture to his main mission picture too. Then, I joined the meeting on my phone as him. The sisters who were hosting the meeting freaked out. They were like “Guys. President Bell has entered the waiting room.” and then everybody started scrambling to prepare themselves mentally/spiritually/emotionally. They were like “Okay we’re letting him in. Everybody behave.”. 

Then they let me in the meeting. I joined without video, so all they could see was President’s profile pic. They were like “Hello President!”. I waited a couple seconds to add suspense. Then, with my face up close to the camera, I turned my camera on and was like “HELLLLLOOOOO”. Haha! It was great. I got them so good. 

2. Getting to work

But yea this week was super dope. I have gotten really good at taking initiative and just full sending on things/opportunities trusting that God may have a plan in mind. Anyways, so a couple of months ago when I was a young chap in the CCM (MTC), I sent in my weekly about Frieda and Urijah, two amazing people I met while doing summer sales. I had reached out to them during CCM and had made some good interaction, but since then haven’t really heard from either of them. Well this week I was thinking about that, and decided it was time to grow up and get to work. We don’t let moss grow under our feet when the Lord is involved. And now, since I’m in the field, I have the tools I need to connect them with their exact areas.

Using google maps, I spent a little while exploring the neighborhoods down in Lancaster CA and was able to track down both Frieda and Urijah’s addresses by memory. Then using our mission tools, was able to get a hold of the missionaries in both of their areas. On the phone they were like “how did you find them?” and I was like “so I did summer sales down there and using google maps tracked down their addresses”. They were pretty hesitant. I was like “I’m 90% sure they’re the right houses, just go and knock”. Haha and luckily, they were the right house's! Both Frieda and Urijah have been contacted and it’s going great! I’m super hyped. I’m so grateful for all these tools that are helping spread the work like wildfire. As Kip would say, “I loveeeeee technologyyyyyy.”. That’s been in my head quite a bit too this week. 

3. Other Mission-type stuff

But man, I am loving it right now. I really missed Frontenac at first, but now I am just vibing here. I love the boonies. The people here are amazing! A little bold sometimes but they are all great. I gave another talk in church and may-or-may-not have accidentally used some slang in my remarks. Then we had a lesson with a member after and they high-key roasted me for using certain words in my talk. So that was awkward. If any of you are offended/confused by my slang, I sincerely apologize. But everyone is super straight-forward which is dope. Helps us qualify better. But yea Shelina and her kids are making great progress! They have become some of my best friends, and accepted an invitation for baptism on December 28th! So I’m gonna meet with them three times a week until then. Super hyped for them! And Debra is getting baptized on Saturday so we’re super hyped for her as well! She’s had a really rough life, especially lately, but I’m really excited for her baptism and for her to feel the joy that comes from it. 

As a missionary, I am always striving to redirect people with their questions back to God. The only difference between our church and any other, is that we have God’s stamp of approval, so why would I waste time trying to convince someone of something that is true when God can tell it better to them than I ever could? If our church really is true as we claim it to be, people should be able to get their answer from God, not me. I can and should help of course, but as missionaries, we are nothing. God needs someone here to do the work, but nothing we say will convert anyone to Jesus Christ. It’s the Holy Ghost that does that, and the Holy Ghost that inspires us what to say so they can feel of it’s presence. But, we can’t teach by the power of the Holy Ghost if we aren’t being obedient, hence why it’s so important to be exactly obedient. I love the mission handbook so much! These “rules” aren’t rules at all, just opportunities for us to recieve blessings! It’s the best. But yea so when I teach people I really try to emphasize the importance of asking God about if it’s true. It’s shown great success. I love some of the responses we get. I did the same thing with Debra and she said that she just felt “warm fuzzies inside” haha. She also said that she always wants that feeling, and I told her that she is on the path to getting there. Which is so true. Nothing brings greater satisfaction in life than does diligently striving to live the commandments of God. It’s cool to start seeing that joy show in others. 

We’ve also found a lot of potentials in this area. The members are fire and we have a lot of work to do. We didn’t pick any of them up as news this week because we were so focused on telling everybody about Light the World! Which, you all need to participate in it! But yea, work-wise, we are doing fantastic. 

And want to know what the craziest part is? We are basically in quarantine! Illinois has new rules that basically for the next little bit we can’t see other people. So for the past week we seldom left our apartment, and this next week will be the same. Quarantine is no excuse for holding back on the work of the Lord. Yesterday was one of the busiest days in the mish for me, and we didn’t leave our apartment once. Just saying, whether stuck in the apt or not, service/mission opportunities are everywhere. 

Technology is the best idea ever. Instead of spending a ton of time and gas going to a members home, we click two buttons for a zoom call, and then right when that ends we can hop onto another one. It’s just so efficient. God is a smart lad. His ways are much higher than our ways, and I’m grateful that as a church we are better understanding the importance of missionary work and how to be most effective in it. 

But yea I felt the spirit big time this week. There’s this Book of Mormon song called “How Can I Be” that was the highlight of my week. I was listening to it and just felt the tears coming so hard. I fought them like a man, but boy it was difficult. I know the stories in the Book of Mormon are true. 

Another highlight this week was listening to “Praise to the Man - Folk Song” by Steven Sharp Nelson. I started whimpering during this too. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. Praying for the day when I can shake his hand and thank him for all he did for this Gospel. What an incredible man.

People all around the world recognize that our church is a powerful influence for good, but at the same time, they deny Joseph Smith. You can’t accept the revelations and deny the revelator. The reason our church is so good is because of the divine revelations Joseph Smith recieved through Jesus Christ. I hope you guys can see that. 

But yea that’s basically it for this week! We are doin pretty well. It’s crazy how fast the days go by. Feels like in one motion I wake up and then am back in bed. I’m starting to freak out realizing how fast life moves. Literally feels like just a small moment ago I was in 2nd grade fighting with this kid about whether or not Santa Clause was real. I knew he was fake, because my parents had told me that from the beginning, but this poor chap thought he was real, and I felt it my duty to explain it to him. Well things got out of hand, and finally I went to my teacher Mrs. Anderson to ask for a second witness. When I told her about the situation, she looked uneasy, and didn’t want to get involved. Then the kid who thought he was real and other kids in my class teased me for not believing in Santa. I was outraged. 

Not sure why I shared that story, but point is, life is moving way too fast. After elementary school, I was so excited for junior high. Went to Albion middle school for 6th grade, and absolutley hated it. Then for the next year, I decided to go to Churchill Jr. High for 7th grade. Feels like just yesterday I was 5’0’’ walking through the halls looking forward with great anticipation for the day when I could be an SBO like my big brother Joseph. Then, in a blink, I was there. The year flew by, and then I was in high school, sitting in the back of the band room with my brother from another mother watching bowling videos during class. Then suddenly I was a senior, looking forward to a dope senior year, and just as quickly as it started, covid broke out and it was over. Then I was knocking doors in the hood of Cali, and it felt like I would never leave. Then I was gone, back home waiting for my mission to start. Then I was at my computer in the CCM with my boy @Elder Hansen, then suddenly in Frontenac MO, and now I’m here in the boonies. I cannot even fathom how fast this has all happened. It’s exciting, but also a little frightening. Next thing I know I’m gonna be married with 40 kids on a pig farm in Kentucky. It’s wild. I am learning more and more every day that we need to find joy where we are right now. Too often we look back at old memories and wish we were there, not appreciating the moment that we're in right now. Reminds me of a scripture in Jacob 7:26-

“..the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream…”

This whole mortal life thing is just one big, confusing, exciting dream. One day we’ll all wake up in the eternities and have the same thought of “man, it’s over already?”. Then we’ll return with joy and thanksgiving to our Heavenly Parents who most graciously sent us on this mortal journey that taught us to much. I’m so grateful for life and for all that it has brought me. Some talks I would recommend to y’all would be “Our Great Adventure” by Dieter F. Uchtdorf (October 2019), and “The Great Plan” by Dahlin H. Oaks (April 2020). Perspective on life becomes a lot clearer when we better understand who we were before this life, and who we’re capable of becoming afterwards.

Sorry for the rant! Have a good week hermanas! Sorry if you’re offended by my slang! Email me if you so desire. 

--

- Elder Wride

1) thanksgiving

2) felt cute. might delete later

3) selfie time

4) talkin with the sis

5) me and the uke

6) talking with lil Pete!