To Learn Patience

Dear Family,

Alright well what's up everybody. This last week has been a great week here in Guatemala. Learning a lot of love and patience every single day. All I know for sure is that the Lord wants me to learn patience right now. Anyways I don't have much time today because one of the sisters in the district forgot her password to her email and I have been helping her with that.

Anyways we did not have any baptisms this week, but i know that we are getting close. My companion Elder Sorto is coming along nicely, he really is a great kid. but wow he really hates my guts. Sometimes he loves me but most of the time no. We are really trying to get everything worked out because we really can't do anything if there are problems. But i know that the Lord put us together to learn from each other. We always just have to be humble enough to learn what the Lord wants us to.

Anyway we have found some good people to teach, but the problem is that none of the are married. So we have been working on that. Anyways this one guy is named Jonas and he is awesome. He has really been lost all of his life and got into drugs and everything like that. Anyways on Sunday when we were teaching him, he still has had problems with drugs. Honestly we just want to help him free himself from the drugs. and he is doing well. It was so humbling to watch him bawl and just tell us that he can feel the Book of Mormon changing his life.

Anyways I am really excited for conference this weekend and am so thankful to listen to the testimonies of individuals that have seen Jesus Christ face to face. I have never seen him, but I know that he lives and that he rose the third day. I know that without a doubt how thankful I am for the surety that through his restored gospel all mankind can be saved. I know that he lives. Sometimes we just have to remember that impact in our lives. I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Wilkes

Keeping Faith

Dear Family,

Well this last week has been a great week. We honestly have seen a ton of trials so that has been super awesome to see and to learn and grow from them. We don't really have any investigators right now. So we are always working hard looking for people in search of the gospel.

No mom I did not get changed. I am still in my same area. I have a new companion named Elder Sorto from El Salvador he is a great kid, but I don't think he likes me very much right now. But we are working and I really love him and tell him that every second. My last companion just got changed to a different area mom. Yes mom the truth is that sometimes we can have 10 lessons every day. But you have to be careful because we have to separate the people who are really ready to receive the gospel from those who are not. My area did get cut in half so now it is really small and in a part of my area nobody has baptized for over 2 years so we are going to be working to change that. My living conditions are fine, our house is nice. Were we teach and work is not that nice though. Most people live in tin shacks, then the other half of our ward has money. So it makes for some interesting dynamics. The hardest thing from this last week mom was on Sunday we went to bring some investigators to church and when we got there the guy was high on drugs and wow it just broke my heart. Because they had been doing so good and then he feel and yesterday he told us that he didn't want to meet with us anymore. So it really is heartbreaking to watch people fall back into sin after they have felt the atonement and the joy of repentance.

I think the most spiritual thing that has happened in this past week was just keeping faith. It can be hard with new missionaries because they don't have faith, and sometimes just complain. But really I know to just keep the faith and be obedience with exactness that we will see miracles. Being a district leader mom is nothing special, just make more phone calls and do baptismal interviews.
I really hope that answers all of your questions. I will try and be specific but my mind just goes so blank. And anyways I love you guys. Obedience brings blessings but obedience with exactness bring miracles.

Elder Wilkes

Living the Dream

Alright well what is up everybody? Here I am still in Guatemala still just living the dream this week has been crazy and seriously the most amazing experiences. Anyways my new companion is named Elder Sorto and he is from El Salvador (shout out to Mikala). Anyways he really is a great kid. He has gotten frustrated with me already and so that always makes things fun. But I just love this guy and I'm thankful for his desire to serve the Lord. One thing that we are working on is that it is not enough to just be in the mission. We really have to make the most out of it. Also I am a district leader now so that is more responsibility which is great, I guess.

Anyways well yesterday was honestly the greatest day ever. It was amazing to be taught by an apostle of the Lord in person. He taught for about an hour and it was incredible. All of us had the opportunity to shake his had and to meet some of the area presidency and also Elder Richard G. Maynes of the Seventy. Elder Anderson taught on the Atonement and that was incredible. I know that as each and everyone of us find the power of the atonement in our lives that the Lord will give us the opportunities to share it with others. Honestly the biggest joy that I have felt in my life has come from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. There is not a greater miracle than that of forgiveness. The Area President also asked us all a great question: Do you desire eternal life? I am almost positive that everyone can answer yes. But the next question is what are we willing to do for it? we should all just think about that a little.

Anyways me and my companion are teaching a really good family that we found. The first lesson the guy Jonas cried. They came to church and he told us that he is ready to be baptized. But his wife decided that she didn't want to listen anymore. So everyone please pray for her. This guy Jonas is amazing though. He was really prepared by the Lord. Anyways I love all of you guys. Keep on Keeping on.

Elder Wilkes

God's Love is Perfect

Dear Family,

Alright well it is that time of the week again when we get to communicate with each other. Anyways on a positive note on Saturday we had a baptism. That was so awesome. I don't think there is really anything better than seeing someone coming closer to Jesus Christ. I don't think there are really words to describe the joy that come from that either. Her name is Jessica and she is a single mother and has a 1 year-old child. She lives with all members so that is a big help for her.

Anyways on a cool note next week we have a conference with Elder Anderson from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. Anyways last week when we went to the temple for P-day the missions presidents wife told me that i had a nice voice and she asked me to sing in a group for it. It is with a few other missions here in Guatemala so that will be cool. I am pretty nervous but you know I was in the Cedar Hills 2nd ward choir so that means I was prepared for anything. Looks like those practices with dad and Baker and Jamison with Mom at the piano have really payed off.

Anyways one thing that I learned this week was about love. With my companion and just with this whole country in general. Anyways we were suppose to have our baptism at 5 on Saturday and me and Elder Castro were just waiting for like an hour and then finally people showed up and then nobody from the bishopric came and it was just really crazy. I was really frustrated. And to top it all of at the end our ward mission leader gave like a talk that was super evangelical so it was just an amazing experience. Anyways people are not perfect. I am not perfect. But Gods love is. Charity is a thing that has to be worked for through actions. The next day as I got my hair cut I just talked to this guy about his life and everything and it just made me realize how much I love the people and the country. What a blessing it is to learn from them each and everyday. Anyways here are some pictures and also I won't be writing until next Thursday.

Love you all,
Elder Wilkes

Anyways :)

Alright everybody well I am writing on Monday today because tomorrow we are going to the temple as a zone. I would have told you all last week but I did not know until last night so sorry about that.

Anyways life keeps rolling here in Guatemala. I can't believe that we are already in March. Time goes by so fast. The rain is going to start pretty soon so that is always a huge blessing. Anyways we are in summer here and it is so hot. I am not even on the coast so I have no idea what I am going to do someday when I am there. Anyways we are in March and the mission has a goal of 400 baptisms this month so that means we have to have a lot of faith. But I know that the goals that we get are really revelation from our Father is Heaven so I know that we will do it. We did not have a baptism yesterday but this Saturday we are going to have a baptism and I am so happy. It is a single mother who lives with all members so it was really a miracle. Her sister in law talked to me in church and said that she just didn't understand why it was important to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. We literally just went and talked to her for 5 minutes and she was ready to get baptized. It was such a tender mercy from the Lord.

Anyways we have started seeing little miracles every single day. We have had a hard time with our church attendance because the church is super far away. But we are finding people for this month. So that has been super good.

Anyways my companion was super sick and it has really helped me to learn patience. I always thought that I was somewhat of a loving person but the Lord is really helping me to learn what love is. I am very thankful for that.

Anyways one funny thing that happened this week was with the members. They are so crazy, I just love it. We were going to teach this guy and we were with a member and while we were walking there we were just hyping him up to challenge the guy to get baptized on the 15th. And then in the lesson wow he really did it. He just stood up and started giving it to the guy and it was so crazy. Just like screaming his feelings. You just have to love these people. Anyways I love you guys.

Elder Wilkes

Diligent With Exactness

Alright well what's up everybody??

This week we had a really good week here in Alamedas. My companion got really sick so that has been kind of hard. One thing I know for sure is that the Lord definitely wants me to learn patience in this change. We have a tradition in the mission of being diligent with exactness. So we still have to work really hard even when he is so sick.

Anyways things are going well here for the moment. We don't have a lot of investigators but we are working towards destroying the area here in March. The leaders of the church here have really, really huge goals. They want to divide the stake and see a temple here.

Being a trainer here is fun and hard at the same time. When we were practicing teaching the Law of Chasity the other day my companion said-"La verdad es que relaciones sexuals son una gran bendicion." I was seriously just rolling on the ground laughing because it was so funny. Sometimes he will just say the funniest things in the lessons and I just die. But he is a great kid and progressing nicely.

Quick shout out to Baker for winning the championship game for his team. And Micah and Elise for having a great family activity. I cant watch videos so I don't know what your baby is, but I am sure that it is a good one.

Sometimes it is weird to think about how different all mission are. Micah told me Chloe hasn't taught a lesson yet. I feel here that we didn't do enough if we don't have 10 lessons everyday. Missions are different with different challenges and rewards but the important thing is that we all walk the road to Damascus and become more converted to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Well love you guys hope you all have a great week.

Elder Wilkes 

Learning to Be Tough

Dear Family,

What's up everybody? We are just killing it here just outside of Guatemala City. My area looks over the capital so that is always cool to see at night. Anyways we had a great week last week. We are just doing a lot of learning here. It was really hard when I first got here, but we are learning and my companion and I are getting better together. One funny story is that a huge rat got into our house and I seriously did not like it at all. We have been going to war with it here and I am seriously praying that it doesn't get into my food. Another funny story is that on Saturday night I tried to make a small chocolate cake in the microwave and let me say that it did not work out at all. We kind of put it in the microwave for too long and the whole house started smoking up we could hardly sleep that night because the smoke would not leave our house.

Anyways things are progressing here. My comp and I have been focusing a lot on the difference between being on a mission and just being here. Really in life we can do our best in every single thing that we do or we can just kind of go through the motions. The best advice I think that I received before my mission was from our cousins Cade and Ryan that a mission will really change your life if you let it. I have seen that a lot here. I want to use every second here to prepare me for the rest of my life.

Elder Castro and I have been talking a lot about learning to be tough. I'm sure the whole family will laugh about that because I was never a good example of that at all. But sometimes things are really hard here and things can get really hard for my companion. But we talk about being tough and remembering that with faith all things are possible, I love 2 Nephi 27:23 when God says that He is a God of miracles. He doesn't need us to do his work, he has just given us the opportunity to play small roles in it for our benefit. How thankful I am for that. I love you all and am thankful for your examples.

Elder Wilkes