A Short Update

so today I had to spend a good portion of my computer time wrangling the wayward print system here at the local library because I had to print out some visa-related documents. So this letter probably won't be very long... So, a quick update on the visa:

Bad news, I will not be going to brasil for at least another transfer. I received word from church travel saying that my FBI clearance expired and that I need to redo it. Good news: Church travel said that they had actually received word from the consulate informing them specifically that my FBI clearance was expired. In other words: the brasilian consulate actually LOOKED at my application--like, it actually ended up on somebody's desk and they looked at it and saw that the FBI clearance was invalid. This is kind of a big deal, because as far as I know this is the first time my application made it so far as to be LOOKED AT. So, yeah. That's the good news.

It was kind of a slow week, unfortunately. But that is ok. We have big plans for this next week! We scheduled tons of members to come out with us this week when we were at church yesterday. So its going to be a good week. Elder Fata is doing great! 

Sorry I forgot my camera again....I know, I am the worst! I promise I send pictures next week! 

love yall

luke

Whoaaaaaa!

Dear family and friends,

Holy smokes this has been a crazy week. So I believe I mentioned in my last email that I went on exchange with an Elder Bock who ended up having a pretty bad bicycle accident. [ps sorry that I am emailing today, yesterday was memorial day and all the libraries were closed.] Anyways so it turns out that Elder Bock broke his wrist. Because he is no longer able to safely ride a bicycle, we were forced to have an emergency transfer wherein Elder Bock joined Elder Evans in my old area (which is equipped with a car) and I joined Elder Fata up in NW area. The catch is that Elder Fata is a brand new missionary, which means that I am training him! I'm, like, his step-dad I guess. Anyway, Elder Fata is a super awesome guy. He is Samoan and from Southern California. He laughs a lot, and eats a lot, and he used to power-lift so he is kinda huge. He works really hard, which is all anyone can really ask for in a companion. All around, Elder Fata is just an awesome guy.

NW area is RIGHT next to downtown--like, we can see the skyline from the majority of our area. I love it.

Oh, cool story: so last night just as we left P-day to start proselyting, it started POURING rain. We had a lesson scheduled with an investigator with a member coming as well, but we had to reschedule. We received a text message on our phone warning that the area was on flash flood watch. It was way cool. So we stayed in for a little while and ate dinner and watched as the waterline came closer and closer to our door. Luckily our apt didn't flood. When the rain slowed down and we headed outside, it was gorgeous--one one hand a ginormous rainbow and on the other the most ridiculously spectacular scarlet sunset. And then we rode over to Harrisburg road to find that it was practically a RIVER. Harrisburg is a large, busy road but at this point there was almost no one on it. We road straight down the middle of the road, trying to keep our tires right in between the two yellow lines because they marked the shallowest route, but even so, we were still riding through at least six to eight inches of water. The sides of the road were feet deep in water. It was pretty cool.

Kelly's baptism was on Saturday! It was great! I got to play the piano with an hermana for a spanish baptism at six and then I got to give a surprise talk on the Holy Ghost for the baptism at 7 and then play the cello. The service was fantastic. It was the most well-attended, and the most spiritually edifying baptismal services I have attended on my mission. Kelly's son Steven was able to baptize her. It was wonderful.

Well that's what I can remember from this week. Love you all!

elder wilder

oh btw I have lots of pictures, I just need to find my camera cord in my bags--I am not 100% unpacked yet because we have been busy busy busy but I will send pictures next week.

love yall!

oh btw. New address: 810 Fair Oaks Rd #79

Houston, TX 77023

Hey Guys

hello everybody!

So Kelly Bradley is getting baptized this weekend! We are very excited. A few weeks ago we had an FHE with her at the Bishop's house where the bishop's son forced elder evans and I to play the flute and the cello together, and Sister Bradley apparently liked it because she requested we play at her baptism. So I will be playing the cello for a baptism mom, just so you know. We are going to be rehearsing today during pday (bishop's son is bringing his cello) so that should be a lot of fun.

I went on exchange this week with Elder Bock, who is like this big buff guy from cali. He's pretty cool. But unfortunately he crashed his bike while I was with him and now he can't move his wrist due to swelling...so that's not good. Other than that though the exchange was fun and we even got a new investigator for northwest and committed him to baptism! and he showed up for church the next day!

In other news, I tried some of that mexican candy that is coated in spicy chile dust. those things are actually delicious!

Also, the family heirloom of a shoulder bag that justin gave to me is falling apart....is there such a thing as fabric glue? I will be looking for something along those lines at the store today.

I honestly never know what to put in these emails anymore....and I'm only like nine months into my mission. That's bad. Well. Rest assured that we are doing well and that stuff actually does happen in my life from week to week--I think I am just to braindead on monday to remember any of it.

Love you all! Hope you're treating the missionaries in your ward extra well in honor of me!

sincerely

luke

Dear All,

Hi everybody! It was so fantastic to hear from everyone yesterday! It was great to hear all your voices and to hear that you are all doing well and everything.

So we had a good week! It was a little slow but Sunday made up for it--we had a fantastic showing of people at church. We felt blessed far beyond what we deserved. It was great.

Well I am sorry, I don't really know what to say! We had such a great conversation yesterday and I feel as though I already told you all about my week. 

So I am going to go buy a camera and take tons of pictures so I can send them next week. For real this time, I will try my best to take lots of pictures.

Love you all! Hope that you all have a wonderful week!

sincerely,

luke

Baptism 3.0

Dear all,

So we had a baptism!!! Actually we had 3! This is kind of my first official baptism since I've been out on my mission, because my converts from liberty got baptized a few weeks after I left there. These ones are official though. AND I got to perform one of the baptisms!

So the three people that got baptized were: Gracie Herrera and her daughters Melanie and Mina. There was also a man named Adam who got baptized the same night. At first Gracie, Melanie and Mina were all planning on having a ward member named Brother Mather do the baptism, but then, at the baptismal interview, Mina said she didn't want to be baptized by Brother Mather. Elder Thomas, the zone leader who was doing the interviews, said, "You don't have to have brother mather do your baptism. Who would you like to do your baptism?" And Mina said, "Elder Wilder!" And my heart melted a little. She and Melanie and just wonderful, adorable little girls. And now their baptized!

In related news, I basically forced Elder Evans to play the flute for the baptism. It was pretty funny. I found a member who had a flute and asked her to bring it. I was pretty proud of myself. Elder Evans was pretty mad, but I think he secretly enjoyed it. And it went really well. He played as part of a musical number where Melanie and Mina both sang "I am a Child of God" with Sister Walton and Sister Baxter (the missionaries who taught Adam) and I accompanied on piano.

The next day in church, Elder Evans performed the confirmations. The Herrera family looked so happy! It was wonderful. And Kelly Bradley managed to make it to church for the second or third sunday in a row. She is doing great, but we had two postpone her baptism a few weeks because she was having such bad withdrawals from trying to quit coffee and decided she would need to quit gradually. The nice thing is, the new baptismal date we suggested for her happens to coincide with her husband coming back into town from an extended work project, so he will hopefully be able to witness the baptism. From what Kelly has said, he is very supportive of her decision and said, "well, we needed to find a church anyway." so things are looking good for Kelly.

And we had another new family at church--Willie and Trisha. They are young but Trisha is apparently really good at spitting out twins because the have two sets. In total they have like six kids all under the age of 8!

Also, the lady in the Spanish ward who is from Brazil invited Elder Evans and I to come over for dinner!  So I can teach my first lesson in portuguese since the MTC to her and her husband (although he only speaks spanish). So that will be fun.

Love you all,

luke

Transfer 6!

Well it is day one of transfer six. I am excited! I am staying in Broadway with Elder Evans, and Elder Evans has been made a district leader...hopefully the power doesn't go to his head! haha just kidding its not. Although I like to pretend so. As missionaries we all have to have texting signatures so that at the end of each one of our texts it automatically says something like, <Evans&Wilder>. So lately any time I text another missionary, I modify our signature to say some variation of  <DISTRICTLEADEREVANS&packmulewilder>. Yes, I know its dumb.

Sadly, our district leader, Elder Jones, and his companion Elder Willey are being flushed out of their area. I'm pretty sad about that.

Things have been going well in the work. Gracie and her daughters are still progressing towards baptism. She has said that she has a testimony of the gospel and of the restoration, but she is still really nervous about being baptized. Part of this might have been because she attended the baptism of a paraplegic(sp?) man who ended up having to be dunked three times before he was fully immersed...anyways we are still hopeful that gracie and her daughters will be ready for this saturday. We are having a family home evening in the home of a member tomorrow so we'll see if that helps.

Sunday was the birthday of Neil, who is probably my very favorite member of the broadway ward. He is a big, burly, thirty five year old guy with a slight mental disability. When he was younger, his family got in a car crash. His sister died, Neil was left with brain damage, and the family was left emotionally shattered. But then missionaries found them and they joined the church. Now Neil's mom is the relief society president and works tirelessly to help the members of the ward and the missionaries, and she usually brings Neil along for the ride. Neil is just about the sweetest, funniest, most genuinely loving guy I have ever met. He always comes up and greets investigators and less active members at church with a warm smile and makes some weird, funny off the wall comment. He's a great guy. So: happy birthday to neil!

Oh and I met a brazilian lady at church the other day and struggled to say anything to her in portuguese without accidentally slipping into spanish. I can still read portuguese just fine, but apparently my conversational abilities are pretty shot. oh well...

love you all!

Elder Wilder

Whoa!

dear family and friends,

whoa. I am currently beginning the sixth week of what I believe is my 6th transfer. whoa.

Well, we had a really successful week this last week. We managed to get lots of members out to lessons with us and just had lots of success. We now have a baptismal date set with Gracie and her daughters Mina and Melanie, as well as with Kelly, the lady whose son just received his mission call. They are all set for 3 May! The sisters in our ward also have a baptism set for that date, which means there should be five people getting baptized on the third of may! So thats pretty cool.

We had exchanges this last week. I got to go up to the NW area again with Elder Willey. Elder Willey is awesome; I love going on exchanges with him. For one thing he always insists on going out to eat for dinner every exchange--which is fun because Elder Evans literally never goes out to eat. So we went to this hipsterry place called Bohemios where I got a really really delicious sandwich. Also, the northwest area is really interesting. We talked to a homeless man named Mark who was fascinating if a little vulgur, and a medical student named Caroline who was super smart and was the first person I had ever met who actually asked about key indicators. haha.

But yeah, things are going really well here in Houston. No news on the visa, though I have heard several stories of long-time visa waiters getting their visas just recently--so, who knows.

As I mentioned, we are in week 6, which means transfers are next week. But I feel certain I will stay here. Elder Evans might become a district leader for his last two transfers. who knows. we will see.

love you all!

luke