With All Your Heart, Might, Mind and Strength - Feb. 2, 2015

Alright Family!

 It's so good to hear from you guys!! I'm glad that you are enjoying the warm weather because it is absolutely freezing over here :) Way to go Mads in your basketball games! 4 point play?? That's my girl! I can't believe you're almost done with your season. Good luck with the rest of it! How long will Katie and Trevor be living with you guys? Sounds like it's going to be a party! I'm excited to hear how the basement goes. I love it when dad gets new ideas :)

 This week has been pretty good! I realize that I say that a lot haha but things usually just are :) We had a lot more finding this week than we did last week but we had a lot of neat experiences and were able to find joy in the work. One thing that I have learned while being out here is to expect miracles. When we are being obedient and doing the best that we can the Lord WILL bless us. We had been finding in Dudley for a solid forty-minutes and were having very little success. It was cold and windy, we had had a long day, and we were feeling pretty discouraged.  I prayed that Heavenly Father would help us and allow us to find someone that was interested in learning more. We came to a road and I felt like we should cross the road and go a different way. We did and the first person that we talked to was interested. His name is Wayne and he is awesome! He told us that he has been thinking about going back to church for the past three months but just hasn't gotten around to it. We were able to teach him the Restoration and committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was such an amazing experience! I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us and will give us the things that we need, but only after the trial of our faith. We were also able to talk to a man named Shah! He didn't seem very interested at first, but we were following up with him later in the day and he is so excited! He has told his whole family about us and is very interested in learning more :) I'm so grateful for experiences like these that make every long day, and every difficult moment worth it.  

 The subject line for this week comes from Doctrine and Covenants 4:2. "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God and the last day." We recite this section every morning along with our purpose and it has come to mean a great deal to me. I love having that constant reminder every morning that I am part of this marvelous work. I know that this work is not about me and that it never will be. I'm so grateful that I have this opportunity to give all that I have and all that I am to building up the kingdom of God. I love my Saviour and I'm so grateful for his perfect example.

Thank you guys for all of your love and support! I hope you have an amazing week!

love,

sister wilde

That time of the week again! - Jan. 26, 2015

Hey Family!

 Sorry this email is coming in so late. We had a district p-day today and we ended up getting back later than we expected. But anyways, it is so good to hear from you guys! It sounds like things are going well. I'm sorry that Mitch hasn't been feeling very well! I'll definitely be praying for him. That's awesome that Adrienne had her farewell! Where is she going again? I'm so happy for her! Tell her hi and good luck for me :)

  This week is transfers again!! I can't believe how fast the past six weeks have gone. I will most likely be staying because I am training but the way that things have gone for me so far, anything could happen :) I let you know next week! So I haven't met a Sister Mosley yet but I'll let you know if I do. But crazy story! When were going to the follow-up training meeting and I was talking to one of the new sisters, Sister Scherf, and she told me that she was from the Netherlands. I asked her is she knew a Zuster Mashburn but she said that she didn't. Then I remembered that that's where Megan Aston served and asked her if she knew her. Turns out that she does! She went out teaching with them a couple of times and said that she was soo cool. You'll have to tell Megan about it and let me know what she says :)

  So highlight of the week was probably when Efrem, one of our potentials, called us on Saturday night and told us that he wanted to come to our church! And he did!! He is a college student from Africa and speaks very little english. When we first stopped to talk to him he had a really hard time understanding us, but when he figured out that we were sharing a message about Jesus Christ he got really excited. I think it was really hard for him at church because he couldn't really understand what was going on, but hopefully we'll be able to teach him a couple of times this week and help him understand more. Should be a good experience :)

  I'm sorry that this email is so short! I'll put some pictures on so hopefully that will make up for it. Overall, things are going really well. I love this work and I know that this gospel is true. I just feel so happy! Thank you so much for all of your prayers, love, and support. It is definitely felt!! I hope you guys have a good week!! Love you!!

Love,

Sister Wilde

Jan. 19, 2015

Hey Family!!

  Thank you so much for the birthday package!! We decided to wait around the flat for the mail this morning to see if it would come, and when I heard our phone ring I booked it down the stairs to meet the mailman. I was pretty stoked :) But I'm glad that the Youth Conference Fireside went well!! I know that the youth are going to continue to have a good experience and that it will be something that they will always remember. You guys are amazing!!

  This week has been pretty solid! We had a shorter working week because of interviews on Thursday, Follow-up training meeting on Friday, and exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders from Friday/Saturday but it was all really good. President Rasmussen does a lot of the training at the meeting and one of the main focuses of our meeting was on prayer. President asked us if we were praying out loud, and that if we weren't, we were invited to repent and begin doing so. I'm not going to tell you to repent, but may I encourage you to all begin saying your prayers out loud. It has changed and improved my prayers tremendously! They are more sincere and I can feel them being led by the Spirit. I know that I am having a real conversation with my Heavenly Father and I know that He is listening. I would love to hear about any experiences that you have while trying this! :) This time for exchanges, it was my turn to go to a different area. They don't normally leave the new missionary in their area but the stls felt like Sister Sorensen should stay so into Harbourne I went. I was with Sister Eldredge, and let me tell you, she is the best. She is from Utah as well and we always have a good time. We were able to teach a couple of lessons and it was a really good experience! One of the lessons we had was with 3 Chinese Uni students. There was Zoe, Kayleigh, and Sophia, and they were the absolute cutest things I have ever seen! We talked with them about some of the questions and concerns that they had and gave them chapters from the Book of Mormon to read and find the answers for themselves. Unfortunately, all of this girls come from a different religious background and their parents aren't very happy about them studying different things. So as of right now, none of them are able to be baptized. But Sophia said to us, "I'm not going to give up. I have two things, the scriptures, and you two. I know that this is true and that this is the path that I want to go on." So amazing!! She is planning on taking a Book of Mormon back to her parents this summer :) 

  Thank you so much for every thing!! I'm so grateful for all of your prayers and encouragement. I know that this church is true and that this is the Lord's work. Just like Sister Rasmussen says, "We are in the business of eternity."

I love you guys! Talk to you soon!

Love,

Sister Wilde

Love the Lord - Jan. 12, 2015

Hey Family,

 I'm glad to hear that the packages made it! I have an order for another name tag so don't worry too much about having that one :) Also, congrats to Katie and Trevor! That's so awesome!! I'm excited to hear how things go. The package that you sent hasn't arrived yet but I'm definitely looking forward to it!!

 This week has been pretty good! We've had long days with finding, but things are starting to pick up. We have a new investigator named Edgar and he is really cool. He said that he doesn't live around Dudley, where we found him, but hopefully he'll still be in our area so we can continue to teach him. Things are going really well with Sister Sorensen and we are having a lot of fun. There are long and tiring days, but at the end of the day we know that we are doing the Lord's work and we will be blessed if we try our best. So as you've probably realized, Georgette wasn't baptised this past week. Her family came into town over Christmas and we haven't been able to see her since. We finally got in touch with her last week and will be seeing her tomorrow. Hopefully things will go well and we'll be able to get back on track :) Nathan, one of our recent converts is starting the smoking program again and is working towards going to the temple on February 7th! He's pretty excited about that and so are we! :)

 We had zone meeting this past week and one of our zone leaders, Elder Unice, said something that I really liked. He said "casualty is a casualty". We talked about how we need to be doing our best every day and not let the little casualty's, (sleeping in, getting out of the flat late, singing "normal" songs, etc), get in the way of our work. He also talked about how having a missionary badge doesn't guarantee you a good experience. That hit me pretty hard and I realized that there are things that I wanted to do differently and change that would allow me to have the best experience possible. In Mark 12:30 it talks about loving the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. I know that as we love the Lord with everything that we are, we want to become more like Him and do what want us to do. As we love the Lord we can find a peace and happiness that doesn't come from anywhere else. It is by loving the Lord that we have a desire to serve Him and that desire enables us to change. I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for everything that He has blessed me with. I'm so grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve Him. I heard this in Relief Society and I really liked it. I think it is from President Benson. "When we put God first, everything else falls into place or out of our lives." 

Thank you for all of your support and love!! Talk to you soon!

Love, 

Sister Megan Wilde

Happy New Year! Jan. 5, 2015

Hey family!!

  Happy New Year!! I can't believe that it is already 2015 and that it is the beginning of my "full year" on my mission. I'm so grateful for everything I've experienced so far and I'm looking forward to what's ahead. The Lord truly is hastening His work and I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be apart of it :)

  This week has been pretty good! We have had a lot of finding to do but we've been able to meet some really cool people. One of them is a man named Feroz. We were doing some finding in Dudley and we had received a challenge that day from the Zone Leaders to hand out two copies of the Book of Mormon. We weren't having a lot of success and things were going pretty slow. Then we saw Feroz standing outside of a shop so we decided to go talk to him. We talked to him about things that made him happy and how he felt about the new year. He said that his family made him happy and that it was a hard time for him because he misses them a lot. We talked to him a little bit and were able to give him a Book of Mormon. We got his number and directed him to Moroni ch 10. He opened it and started reading it right then. It was kind of awkward because we didn't know what to do next, but after a few minutes he looked up and he had a tear running down his cheek. We asked him what was wrong and he just said that it made him remember something about his family back home in Texas. I was then able to testify to him that I knew that the Book of Mormon was true, that it was something that would bring peace and happiness to his life, and that he could come to know that it is true for himself through prayer. He said that he would be happy to meet with us again and we are planning to see him next week. It was such an amazing experience! I know that the Lord truly is preparing people and that the message of the restored gospel is true! 

 This week I was also able to finish reading the Book of Mormon and I know with all of my heart that is is true!! It truly is the word of God and it testifies of Jesus Christ. He is our Saviour and Redeemer and it is only through Him that we can return to our loving Heavenly Father. I know that it was translated through the power of God and that it is the most correct of any book. When combined with the spirit it is the most powerful tool in conversion and I know that even as members we can become more and more converted as we read from it every day. As we come to understand His character, we will want to change and become more like Him. I know that this church is true and that Jesus Christ lives. As we reflect on the past year and set goals for the year ahead, may we turn our thoughts to Him and become more converted. I love you all!! Thank you for everything that you do for me! I am TRULY blessed. Talk to you next week! 

Love,

Sister Wilde

Hey! December 29, 2014

hey fam! 

 I hope that everything is going well! It snowed for about an hour on boxing day and it was the best thing ever. I'll send a photo :) Well not a lot has changed since the last time we spoke but tonight we have a lesson with Jeremy and I hope that it will go well. He told us last week that he might be able to get sundays off so we'll find out tonight if it happened.

 This week is going to be a week of finding so I'll let you know about any cool/crazy stories that happen in the process. I love you all and I hope you have a happy new year!!

Love,

Sister Wilde

Happy Boxing Day!! Dec. 26, 2014

Hey family!

 It was sooo good to see you yesterday! Sorry that you had to put up with my blubbering and ugly crying face. So sorry. But it was really good to talk to you all and hear that everything is going well. So remember how I said that it hardly ever rains? Well right now it's pouring.  Gotta love it :)

  So I forgot to talk to you about this yesterday mom, but what would you say if I asked you to buy me a new camera? With my own money of course.  Mine is doing okay, but I'm realizing that this whole battery powered thing isn't really the best option. I'm constantly having to replace them and based off the ones that I've seen, rechargeable is the way to go. There may be a different adapter that you have to buy as well but I'm okay with that. This isn't a for sure but I just wanted to run it by you and see what you think. Better at the beginning of my mission right? As far as stuff for my birthday, there is this one book that I was thinking about but I'm not sure what it's called. Inspirational quotes and stories for missionaries or something like that. It's small and brown and has loads of good quotes. Sister Appleby had one and I really liked it. I think you can buy it at Deseret Book or something. It's not something I forgot for christmas but I was going to ask you to send it to me at some point so I figured maybe birthday would be a good time :) Oh I just thought of something! nail polish! Haha sorry I just can't really think of anything else to ask for. Maybe some exercises? I don't know what ever you guys want. Probably don't even have to send me anything. 

  Thank you guys again for your love and support. I can feel it every single day and I'm so grateful for it. You are THE BEST!!!  I hope you have a great boxing day and a happy new year!! I love you!!

love,

sister wilde

fun fact:: the word "cheers" means thank you