MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHAT IS UP?

I hope that you all just had the best Christmas ever!!! Hopefully Santa got to come visit you all!! I had a great Christmas! It was very unique as well!!

On Christmas Eve we did service for others, we took them gifts and cookies! We also saw this homeless man on the street and I said "Stop, let's go give that guy some cookies!!!" (Sister Ensign was driving) and so we turned around gave him cookies and got his number and we will be meeting with him soon! So that was way cool! Then we went to a members home and ate and hung out with them. We had to do this thing called "Play for Pie" basically you just do a talent, so since I am just SOOOO talented at the piano ;) I poorly played Sweet Hour Of Prayer hahahah - but I still got good treats so obviously I wasn't that bad. ;) 

On Christmas I got to talk to my FAMILY!!!!!!!!!! Thats what I'm talkin' about!!!!::::)))) So much fun! We Skyped at May's home, he is the ward mission leader, it was so much fun! After that we went and napped, haha lame I know.  But I wasn't even mad, if I can get some extra sleep I won't complain! hahaha!  Then we went and had Christmas dinner with the Hammers! And OH MY GOODNESS EVERYBODY her...food...was....BOMB!!!!! It was so good! Christmas was wonderful to say the least!

Not a ton happened this week, we did go door knocking over by Lake Isabella and the air is a bit colder by the lake! The lake water make my hair grow I'm pretty sure (A joke in our mission, haha ;)) Anyways, while knocking, a lady let us in and made us hot chocolate and had us sit and hang out with her! She was so cool! 

Then that same day the very last home we knocked on was this Jewish man and he wasn't interested in being a Mormon but he LOVES the Mormons. He just kept chanting "GO MORMONS..GO MORMONS!" HAHA then he joked about Christmas and was like "I'm a Jew what the heck am I supposed to do during Christmas break?" haha oh man I wanted that guy to be my best friend! hahaha Sister Ensign and I were laughing so hard! 

So my last little thing for this week...I want to challenge you all to read Alma 26! I'm not going to give anything away BUT!!! I want to say that life is hard...life is really hard sometimes..harder then we hope it would be at times. But in this chapter it talks about how we can be strengthened by the Lord and how we can be blessed! So I strongly encourage you all to read that chapter because it is so good!!!:) I testify that reading the Book of Mormon brings miracles and it will bring peace and comfort to your life I know that because it has brought that to mine!! 

I love all of you so much and I thank you for your love and support! It means the world to me and I thank you for trying to make my Christmas special because it was special!! I hope you have a great rest of your week and I cannot wait to talk to you all!!!!!

Love, Sister Wilde

Christmas Eve with the Melton Family on Christmas Eve

Sister Wilde at the Half Mission Christmas Party

Sister Wilde with Sister Jacobsen, the Mission President's Wife

Sister Wilde, Sister Ensign and the Zone Leaders 

who live across the street and serve with them in Mt Pleasant

A little ice skating fun with her District today!

Transfers!

Hey, Hey Everybody!!

How are you all? I mean that is a pretty open question haha, but if you guys were doing bad I would hope you would tell me so I can do something to help you out! But for the time being I am going to assume you are all doing pretty good!!!

So this week was crazyyyyyy fun!!!:) Sister Ensign and I just laughed all week it was awesome! 

(Sorry my emails are so ADHD haha but I hope that you all enjoy reading them!) 

So first thing is last P-Day we went to Frankenmuth which is a German town with the world's largest CHRISTmas store. I know, just the most random thing in MICHIGAN! It was awesome!

Here is kind of the funny story for this week! So we are out door knocking right? Just the usual missionary life you know? I see these two guys getting stuff out of their truck so we walk over there and I say, "Hey!  Can we help you two with anything?" And he was like "YES!" So we go over and he hands us these little rakes and this tub thing with a garbage bag in it. So I say, "Oh are we raking leaves?" To which I get no response...We walk over around this house and he points down and says..."This is Dog Poo Poo.." hahaha oh my goodness I could only imagine Sister Ensign wanted to kill me about then,haha! Anyways we start shoveling it in, I'm laughing and Sister Ensign is gagging! Hahah, so hilarious! Then the man walks over and gives us....I kid you not....A...20...minute...sermon!!! THEN proceeds to tell us that we do not believe in Jesus Christ! I am like, HEY LISTEN HERE, YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT I WOULD NOT BE CLEANING UP THIS NASTY DOG POO IF I DIDN'T BELIEVE IN THE SAVIOR. Oh my goodness it was ridiculous and funny. And also one of the reasons to love being a missionary. 

Then the best thing ever happened! We received this referral for Grand Rapids, and as some of you might know that is where my friend, Elder Lundell is serving. So I am thinking we call the AP's and give them the referral and we call and they tell us that we can just call the Grand Rapids Elders. So we call, and Sister Ensign says "How crazy would it be if he answered and said -Hi This is Elder Lundell." Two seconds later on the other end of the phone I hear..."Hello This is Elder Lundell!" I just freaked out that was the highlight of my week for sure! Hearing a familiar voice and talking to one of my good friends just made my whole day!! We only got to talk for 10 minutes but it was so great!! It made me smile!

I had my first transfer calls, and of course I am staying in the big MP!!!!:) I love it here, I never want to leave! It is so great and the people are all so amazing!!!:::))) 

Also this week, we got to be a part of Calie's baptism.  She has had her date to be baptized almost a year.  The Elders worked with her and she wanted to be baptized on her 20th birthday and she was!  It was so great.

One of my favorite things we did this week was go and sing Christmas carols at the Alzheimer's unit of the hospital.  While we were there a sweet lady yelled out, "Hey my name is Linda!" So we walk over to her and she goes "HEY I KNOW YOU, YOU GO TO MY CHURCH!" and Sister Ensign and I are just like "Why are you in here?" We aren't really sure why she was there, but it was so fun to spend time with her and the other patients. She is the cutest little thing, she told me I need to gain a few pounds that it will sweeten me up! Hahahaha! She just kept telling me she loved me and how sweet we were, she is the cutest!

Just know that I am doing so good out here! I love every minute of being a missionary even if those minutes are hard!! I encourage and challenge you all to read Luke 2 as a family this Christmas season!! I know it will bring the spirit of Christ into your homes!!!:) 

Remember the real reason for this holiday season which is the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!:)

I love you all so so so so much!!!! I love hearing form you of course! Keep me updated on your life! Until next week, I love you!!!

Love, Sister Wilde

The Dream Team in Mount Pleasant :)

Sister Wilde, Linda and Sister Ensign

Sister Wilde said this was just a cute little pony they ran into while tracting

Crazy Companions in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  

Home of Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland,

 the World’s Largest Christmas Store 

Sister Wilde and her District

 Sister Ensign, 

Calie a new member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 

and Sister Wilde

LAST DAY IN THE MTC BBBAAABBBYYYYYY!

ALRIGHT EVERYBODY WEEK NUMERO 2!!!!!!!!

HOLLA! I am about to get out of here!  I honestly cannot even begin to explain how pumped I am to go to Michigan!  Words cannot explain the joy that I am feeling right now to escape this spiritual prison! haha (but it is all good)

So, I have been asked a few questions about how the classes work and how the lessons work too, sooo here we go I will explain to you! Here is how my days go...

Everyday here is about the same.  You wake up at like 6 then 7 to 7:45 you do district study then go to breakfast until 8:15 then until about 9:30 we do our TRC investigators.  Some of them are members and some of them aren't members but no one knows so you still teach them like they have no idea what the gospel is. That's really fun. Then after that we have class until 12:30, then it is lunch until 1:15, class until 4:15 then gym from then to 5:15 (we usually go play volleyball then we do dinner from 5:45 to 6:30.  After dinner we study as a district and individually and with your companion until 9:30 then 10:15 to 10:30 is quiet time then we go to sleep haha so my life is "super exciting" as you can see!

The next question was what do we learn in our classes. Haha and that is a pretty broad question. The basics of what we are learning is how to teach the lessons and what to teach. We teach The Restoration, The Plan Of Salvation (which i get a little nervous to teach because it is such a deep concept but if you teach it simply is actually makes a lot of sense) then you teach The Gospel Of Jesus Christ. And depending on the needs of your investigators the lessons can change and the spirit can say "nope you aren't going to teach that today even though that is what you prepared for you are going to teach this instead." Which that is just so wonderful when that happens (hahaha sarcasm). But it is actually really cool when you are prepared how much God takes control of the lesson. Then of course you teach Chastity, Word of Wisdom, and Tithing. But what I bet you didn't know is that we are "highly encouraged" to invite people to baptism in the FIRST LESSON!!!!! Isn't that crazy? it is just another testament that this church is true and that everything is truly inspired form God!!!

We taught this investigator Sydney and we invited her to baptism three times she never committed but each time she came closer to Christ which was way cool to see!

Sorry I am running out of time I don't have any super funny stories for you all this week sadly :( but I do have some pretty funny pictures that you all will be able to see- they are quite awesome!

I leave to Michigan in the morning! And when I say morning I mean 4:30 A.M!!  So that is fun hahahaha!  But keep writing me I love you all so much! Again I can feel all of your prayers all the time!  And literally I need to hear about all of your lives it makes me so happy!

Really quick I just want to say that if ANY OF YOU are questioning going on a mission I STRONGLY suggest you go. People need to hear this gospel. It changes peoples lives and people need to feel hope they need to know that their lives can get better so just go serve a mission!  In the short two weeks I have been here I have learned more than I learned in 13 years of school. There is nothing more important in this world than The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. A mission isn't easy but the spirit that you feel all the time and the Christlike love that you grow for every person you come in contact with makes it all worth it in the end!!!

Again I love you all more than you know, my heart grows bigger each day. Remember to keep all the missionaries in the mission field in your prayers because I know that they all can use them! The next time you get my email I will be PREACHING IT UP IN MICHIGAN!! Ahh so excited!

I love you all, you're all amazing and I can feel your spirits even if we are far away!! More stories to come, I love you!!!!!

Love, Sister Wilde!!!!!

Dressing up for Halloween in the MTC?  Switch name tags with the Elders of course!

Sister Wilde and Sister Trent, MTC Companions

Elder Whipple and Elder Woolfenden

The famous laundry room

MTC District she loves

The Sisters in her Zone

One cool district!

Caught by surprise!

MTC Zone

Studying

WEEK 1 I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT HOORAY

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!

Wow first off let me tell you THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!! I can literally feel them everyday and I am so grateful for them! Because I know my district needs them and there have been times when I have needed them as well!

So wow the first week. The MTC is nuts. Its like Spiritual Prison. Me and my district left the MTC grounds for exercise (yes we are allowed to do that) to go play volleyball and you have to pass through a gate and i remember passing that gate and yelling "WE HAVE TO RUN BEFORE THEY CATCH US" It feels so lock-down. But lock-down is good especially for the rebels of the MTC like yours truly. Just kidding I wouldn't break the rules...at least not all of them. You cant even high five!  I mean what is that about? That is less intimate than a handshake. I don't make the rules so I am sure there is a valid reason but it is just kinda like awe really? I still catch myself giving high fives so hopefully I don't get struck by lighting ;)

Alright so day 1 we met our district and I didn't know that I could genuinely love 7 people so quickly. There are 4 sisters and 4 elders. Two of the four elders are going to Michigan Lansing their names are, Elder Whipple (he is our district leader) and the other is Elder Woolfenden pronounced like "Wolf in Den" and those two are sooo cool! Elder Whipple is just a boy version of me so we laugh a lot and get each other's humor which is super fun. And Elder Woolfenden is just awesome he's small but such a spiritual giant. Then three of the four sisters are going to Michigan so that is me and my companion Sister Trent and another sister, Sister Atherton. Then the other three are going to Everett Washington. The two elders are Elder Neerings and Elder Jepson....and they are....interesting. One of them was talking about things one time at lunch and we were all like "Dude (Elder) stop talking hahaha seriously." But it is still great and he is still a great missionary. Elder Jepson used to be in choir so every time we sing he like SLAYYYSSS the song and it is amazing. So that is my district they are all really great. 

The second day that I was here I was REALLY having a hard time. So I asked for a blessing from the elders in my district Elder Woolfenden gave it and it was awesome I felt the spirit so much and every since then I feel so much better. Ever since that blessing I haven't wanted to come home or haven't been homesick which is great! I feel so blessed to have the Elders that I do in my district. We have all become so close as a district too. We eat together, pray together, do sports together, we are so close. I think that's what can really make or break the MTC for people. Most of the reason that things are great is because I am here surrounded by such amazing people. God knew that I needed the people that I have in my district. Everyone is so funny and that helps because I cope by using humor as most of you know. I think what has helped me is just forgetting myself and just doing everything I am suppose to do. Which is easier said than done but not impossible. 

People kept saying just make it to Sunday, just make it to Sunday, just make it to Sunday. It was really irritating cuz i was like "OKAY I GET IT JUST MAKE IT TO SUNDAY STOP!" But they were right after Sunday it's just smooth sailing. I am still pretty tired but I love it and nothing is bothering me... other than these Wheat Blankets that we sleep with....OH MAN LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE WHEAT BLANKETS! First off all they are so gross and hard and crusty. Worst explanation for what we sleep with but they are so gross. The fabric is just balled up everywhere on the blanket hahahahahahah! I can't help but laugh about it because it is so gross. So I sleep with a sheet. The sheet....smells fine. Not clean so I am a bit curious about that as well hahahahah I am grateful for a bed and pillow but it is just a little sketchy you know what I mean? hahahah 

OH ALSO!!! (sorry my email is all over the place) Today since it is Pday, it's laundry day, right? Yea. So. I do my laundry, whatever it's all good, I'm just chillin. We go back to the residence and I get out my whites start folding everything and then...I grab it.... it's a pair of AN ELDER'S BOTTOMS IN MY CLEAN WHITE CLOTHES!!! EW!!!!!!! At first I was like hmm maybe Dad's got mixed in but they were way too small. So all the girls in my room start laughing and I'm laughing and freaking out cuz I'm holding dude's underwear so I ended up having to dispose of them. I was so disgusted hahahahah...I'm like YOU ELDERS ARE TALL ENOUGH TO SEE INTO THE DRYER HOW TO YOU MISS A BRIGHT WHITE PIECE OF CLOTHING?! HAHAHA yea nasty. But it is a story to tell.

So yesterday we got our first TRC investigator which is something the MTC does to help missionaries practice and some of them are members and some of them aren't. So my comp, Sister Trent, and I are teaching her and she's like "Well I don't believe in God" and we just weren't in tune with the spirit because we tried to teach her about the restoration and it just went down hill because if there isn't a God our whole church isn't true. So first we have to help her believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. It was just hard and we just taught the restoration and of course she won't believe what we are telling her. She was the devil's advocate but I still love her and everything, it was just a hard thing to deal with. So next time we aren't even doing a lesson we are just prepared to go in and talk about God and figure out what the problem is. So that was hard but it was a really great teaching experience for us so I'm grateful for it, but it was still a challenge.

Ahhh there is so much to tell in so little time. So I guess I will talk about my companion, Sister Georgia Trent. She is great! Throughout all of my trial and tribulation this week she has been as solid as a rock for me. I am over all of my issues now and I am so happy and I think that I had that experience because I think Sister Trent might have her hardship soon and I hope I can be there for her. She needs your prayers though everyone. I know that she struggles but she is afraid to say anything. I know that she can be strengthened through all of our prayers for her. She is a great teacher and I always tell her that but I'm like, "GIRL YOU GOTTA BE CONFIDENT IN WHAT YOU ARE SAYING BECAUSE YOU ARE ROCKING IT!!!" I keep trying to help her build her confidence so if you can pray for her in that as well that would be amazing!  She never planned on serving a mission but God decided differently. She will be a great missionary!

So for anyone who is wondering the food is GROSS! You know I am so blessed to be out here but if anyone is wondering what to send me...Protein Bars and Protein Powder!! But not too much or else I cant fit it in my suitcase hahaha. I know that is a weird request but me and the girls in my room need the energy!  The food is all sugar and nothing with protein haha so if you are wondering how to help me and my fellow sister, that would be how haha.

Also I would love to handwrite some letters so if you would like a handwritten letter send me your address in an email and I will try my best to write you personally. We don't get a lot of free time here in the MTC but it is good because it gets you deep into the work. 

I fly to Michigan at 9:30am on Wednesday November 4th.  I am so excited to get to Michigan!

Anyways that sadly is all my time for today! But please send me letters during the week through DearElder I love to get those little funny and inspirational letters during the week it makes me happy and I can use the laugh. Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me letters and packages it means so much to me and I love them so much!! I would love to write letters this week too so if you want to write a DearElder and make sure you put your name and address at the bottom that would be lovely!

I want you all to know that I know this church is true and that God is aware of each of us and our needs and that he sends people into our lives to help us! I know that for a fact! I know that this is where I am supposed to be at this time and I am so grateful for it! If any of you are thinking about going on a mission I will tell you to DO IT!!!! It is amazing the things you learn and the people you meet are the biggest blessing.  God blesses you everyday I can see it here at the MTC! Please keep my district in your prayers and my Zone we all struggle and I know that they can use it! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND YOUR SUPPORT UNTIL NEXT P DAY!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love, Sister Wilde

 Sister Wilde and Sister Trent

1st Day in the MTC

 Sister Wilde with her District

 Sister Wilde with her District at the ProvoTemple

 Sister Wilde with the other missionaries headed to the Michigan Lansing Mission

 Called to Serve

 A blessing to often run into one of her best friends, Elder Dane Warwick

She's got the POWER!