January 26,2020 Le quiero mas presidente!!

Hey family and friends! 

This week I was called to labor in Houston 9 with Hermana Gordiana, Spanish speaking. (Thanks president) Haha! 

Although I understand close to no Spanish, I have been able to feel the spirit so strongly as I share my testimony and experiences with those precious sons and daughters of God in the Houston 9 area. 

(Don't worry, my companion translated for me when it was most important!) 

 

The area in Texas City will be closing to sister missionaries, so the elders will take over where I was serving. I am going to white wash Victoria with Hermana Lopez and it should be a "zebra" companionship, meaning half English and half Spanish. 

I am so exited to branch out and see more of Texas and meet lots more people!

There was a story shared in one of our missionary meetings this week, and I thought I would share it with you. (Keep in mind that I typed it out the way I remembered it, so it may be a little weird) :) 

Once there was a man named Mr. Tanner; he was one of the greatest teachers in the world!

Mr. Tanners class had the best scores, they were well behaved and they loved to learn. 

One day however, he decided to move away and teach at a different school. 

Everyone was confused as to why he was leaving. The students told him they would be lost without him, the teachers warned him that the children he was going to teach would be difficult and challenging. They tried to convince him to stay, but despite their efforts, he still moved away to teach at a new school. 

When Mr. Tanner arrived he told the class that he didn't have any rules for them, but that they had to create their own rules. 

The class got so excited. They came up with all kinds of rules, Dont cut in line, dont cheat, dont steal, etc. 

After the class had a list of rules, Mr. Tanner asked them what the punishment would be if someone was to break these rules. 

"10 licks!" Someone called out.

Mr. Tanner cringed. "That is pretty harsh." He said, "are you sure?" 

The whole class agreed that it was appropriate. 

They decided together that the punishment for breaking one of the rules was 10 licks(whips), with no coat. 

The class began that school year being extremely obedient, but one day Big Jim, came into the classroom after lunch claiming little Tom has stolen his food! 

Mr. Tanner approached little Tom who was the smallest kid in the class. "Did you take Big Jim's lunch?" He asked. 

Little Tom let out a small yes and ducked his head. 

"Why?" Mr. Tanner asked. 

"I was so hungry." He responded quietly. 

Little Tom looked even smaller in the oversized coat he wore. 

"Well, you know the punishment." The teacher said, truly not wanting to hurt this small child, but he knew he must follow their rules. 

The class watched nervously. No one had ever broken a rule this far. 

Little Tom dropped his head, but he knew that he had to be punished for taking Big Jim's lunch. 

Little Tom looked at the teacher. "I will take the 10 licks" he said quietly, "but can I please keep my coat on?" 

Mr. Tanner shook his head sadly. "The rules have been set." He said. "The coat must come off." 

Little Tom looked around the room, and with big tears forming in his eyes he shrugged the oversized coat off his shoulders. 

Little Tom wore no shirt underneath. 

Mr. Tanners heart ached. "Tom?" He asked "where is your shirt?" 

Tears were now streaming down little Tom's face. "I only have one shirt." He said wiping at his cheeks. "My mom is washing it today and so my older brother let me borrow his coat to wear in its place." 

The class stared in horror. 

Mr. Tanner did not want to give 10 licks to little Tom, but he knew he had to. "I'm so sorry Tom." He said quietly. "But a rule has been broken, and you have to receive the conciquence." Mr. Tanner had tears in his own eyes now along with many of the classmates.

 

"I know." Little Tom said quietly. 

Just as Mr. Tanner was ready to give little Tom his punishment, Big Jim spoke up. 

"Is there any rule against someone taking his licks for him?" He stood and walked towards little Tom. 

The class was taken aback. 

"I guess not" Mr. Tanner said. 

"I will take his licks." Big Jim said. 

So Big Jim, the one who's lunch was stolen, took little Tom's licks for him. 

The end 

I love this story, because it can relate to us and the savior's atonement. A lick or licken is a way they would punish people back in the day. It is a form of "whipping", but they would call it a lick. ,(just to clarify ) 

In this story Little Tom makes a mistake. We make so many mistakes in our life! Whether small or big, there will always be a conscience for our choices. 

As children of our Heavenly Father, we accepted his plan which includes his commandments and the consequences that follow when we don't choose the right. 

The amazing this is that the saviors atonement is there to help us progress even when we make a mistake. 

Because the savior suffered for us, he can take on our sins and we can be forgiven! 

Repentance is a wonderful thing. Sometimes people associate atonement and repentance with harsh judgement or regret and pain, but the atonement is what allows us to have our "licks" taken for us. It brings happiness and peace into our lives. 

Christ has already taken on our sins and pains. He suffered for us and died on the cross. He was then risen again, all so we too can be risen and return to our heavenly father's presence. So don't think that if you repent or use christ's atonement it will bring more pain and sorrow. Dont let christ's atonement go to waste! Repent daily! Progress hourly, improve always!! 

No unclean thing can dwell in the presence of god. The ONLY way to return to our heavenly father is through christ's atonement. 

Like Mr. Tanner was obligated to give a punishment after little Tom stole Big Jim's lunch, Heavenly Father is obligated to give a punishment for any sins we CHOOSE not to repent of up to judgement day.  

Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance! 

The price has been paid, the lord has already suffered for us! All we must do is partake of the bread of life and the living waters which come from our loving savior, Jesus Christ. 

It is free - Just like God's love.

I love you all so much!! It will be hard to leave texas city especially because I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone, but I know that the lord has a plan for me! I was touched by the spirit this week testifying to me that this is the lord's work, not mine! I am a tool in his hand and I can either choose to sit by and watch the field, or jump in and help harvest it. 

I love you all so much!!! 

Baptism of Maria in Houston 9 Zone Ann was in for 4 days.

Sister Elgaaen & Hermana Gordiana eating at members house.

Last time with Texas City Zone before leaving.

Sister Elgaaen & Hermana Gordiana making cakeballs for Maria's baptism.

Sister Elgaaen, Sister Wilde & Billy and dog.

January 20, 2020 Every Knock is One Step Closer

Hey family and friends! 

Once while biking down a street, a thought to knock on a bright yellow house we were passing popped into my mind. 

However, we were headed to an appointment and we needed to keep biking, so I stayed quiet and moved forward. 

We rarely biked down that street so I knew we probably wouldn't get to knock on that door. 

Our appointment, however, fell through. We had around a half an hour to bike around and knock on doors. 

At this point the thought to knock on the yellow door had fled my mind. 

I let my companion lead, and it was unlikely that she would turn up the same street anyway and backtrack, when we had just been knocking that area. 

But, she Did! 

As we biked past the yellow house once again, I called our to her and told her we needed to stop there. 

As we hopped off our bikes and approached the yellow house I pulled out a book of Mormon and  I felt a wave of worry wash over me. 

It had been pretty bold of me to call out to my companion like that and tell her we had to stop at this house, what if no one was home? 

But, when we knocked. A man came to the door. 

We introduced ourselves as the sister missionaries and asked him a simple question: how has family blessed your life? 

We talked for a few minutes and then he asked us a question that caused me to stop. 

"What made you knock on my door?" 

We were confused, and by our expressions he knew we hadn't understood his question. 

He went on, "You could have knocked on any other house, but you chose to knock on my door. Why?" 

I looked at my companion and we were a little speechless. I knew it had been me who wanted to knock on his door, so I told him the truth. 

I explained that we had passed his house Once on our way to an appointment, and I had felt like we needed to come to this house. When our appointment fell through and we were backtracking through this neighborhood, we passed his house again and the prompting to knock was still there, so we stopped. 

He nodded his head. 

I thought maybe he was angry at us and would tell us to get lost or to never come back, but then his expression changed. 

"Right before you knocked on the door I was thinking of doing something horrible." He said. "I said a prayer to god to send someone to save me when you two knocked on the door." 

He went on to tell us that it wasn't a coincidence that I had that prompting to knock on his door. 

He asked us if he could have the book I was holding and we gave it to him eagerly. 

We set up another appointment to go by and he said he was going to share our message with his whole family! 

We knew that we had been lead by the spirit 200%!! 

When we went back to his house he never seemed to be avalible. He was always "sick" or "sleeping". His kids would always run up to us whenever we came by. They LOVE the missionaires. But, we never made any progress. 

We decided to stop trying to teach him after his wife came out once and told us they weren't interested. 

We had tried for weeks with no progress. 

Eventually transfers came and my companions changed. While going through the list of people we had recently dropped, this man's name came up. I explained how we had started teaching him and I felt like we needed to go back. 

As we biked to his house, once again, one of his daughters told us he wasn't avalible right now. They closed the door and we walked back to our bikes. 

Just as we were putting on our helmets, his younger daughter opened the door and stepped outside. 

"Remeber last Halloween when you put those sucker ghosts on our door? I wanted to thank you for that." She said quietly. "Also, I have been reading the book you gave us, and I am half way through." She smiled and our hearts filled with joy. 

We bore our testimony to her about the book of Mormon and we told her we loved her before she walked back inside of her bright yellow house and we biked away. 

Sometimes we have a big vision in our mind of exactly how we want to help others reach baptism and conversion, but more often then not, God has a different vision. 

The man in the yellow house may never pick up the Book of Mormon and read it, but his daughter did. We can only pray and continue to show them support and love and hope they will reach a point where they will desire to repent and come closer to Christ. 

We give them the seed, but they must choose to water it and care for it. We cannot do it for them. 

So keep planting seeds!! Eventually, some of them are bound to sprout and grow into a beautiful tree.

I love you all! Have the best week ever! 

Making Cake Balls

January 13, 2019 The Killer Whales! ( It was just a dream!)

Hey family and friends!!! 

This week was awesome! 

One night I had a dream where I was on a cruise ship looking out over the ocean. The water was so close to me; I could have reached down and touched it, but there was a rope that ran across the boat that prevented us from touching the water.  

After watching the water for some time, an old man began to climb over the rope. Many people around him, including myself, began to call out too this man. We told him the water was dangerous and he needed too come back on the other side of the rope.

But despite our efforts, this old man didn't listen. He sat down and placed his feet in the water, contently ignoring our cries for him to return to the other side. 

Eventually I watched from a distance as 3 killer whales approach the boat. 

When our eyes landed on these horrific sea creatures, our cries became louder and more anxious. We pleaded with the man to return to safety, but he still didn't listen! 

Eventually (And remember this was a dream) the killer whales came right up next to this man. They told him they would eat him and laughed as we helplessly tried to get this man's attention. 

I looked around at those who were watching this man and I KNEW I needed to get as far away from it as I could. 

I turned and began running from the edge of the boat. I looked back for only a second and watched the poor old man be taken under by the killer whales. 

This dream was very random, but I think we can apply it to our own lives. 

As we live the gospel and follow God's commands, we are staying behind that protective " rope." We are safe on that side. That doesn't mean we don't feel the boat rock, or the water splash on our face. We all experience trials, even if we are following God's commands. 

But as soon as we leave the safety of those commandments and step over that rope, we are not able to be protected anymore.  

The old man could represent those who refuse to follow God's commandments. It isn't that they are unaware of what the commandments are, but that they consciously choose to ignore them. 

We cried out to the man to return, but he refused. 

We cannot make choices for other people. They must choose for themselves if they are going to follow God's commandments or not. We can call out to those who are lost, but if we leave the safety of the rope to try helping someone else, we might be found in the jaws of the devil!

The killer whales can represent Satan. He tempts and tries us, he laughs when we make a mistake, and he wants us to be miserable like himself.  

I urge all of you to strive to stay "behind the rope" 

God has given us commandments that will keep us safe, and even if they seem wierd or unrelatable, it is VITAL that we follow them! 

Just for the record, I don't hate killer whales. I actually think they are kindof cute, but I wouldn't go swimming with them!! That is also like some sins.... We might think that a movie looks good or that it would be fun to get drunk with your friends, but in the end if we go swimming with those "killer whales", we will be eaten. 

Stay safe! Move away from the edge so that the temptation to get in the water never even crosses your mind. 

I love you all!!

Sister Wilde & Elgaaen with sloth at Moody Gardens

Sister's Wilde & Elgaaen

 

January 6, 2020 "Get your 20/20 Vision On"

Hey family and friends! 

Sorry this email is so short  

This week has been the BEST!! While walking past our neighbors on New Year's day we commented on how good their cooking smelled. Not 3 minutes later they knocked on our door and invited us over for dinner. 

It was amazing to see the kindness and generosity of strangers!! 

We were able to give them a book of Mormon and send the elders over to their appartemtn so they can start being taught. 

It is so important to look our for those around you. 

The come follow me study was wonderful!! I can't wait to continue learning more about the book of Mormon! (My president may have told us we are addicted to the BOM) 

I hope you can all learn something new each day as you pick up the Book of Mormon and study it front to back this year. 

Love you all!! 

Sister Wilde & Elgaaen in Ice Land

Dolphins in Ice Land in Texas

Fruit Snacks from a gift Card

House in Ice Land

Mount Rushmore in Ice Land Texas

Sister's Wilde & Elgaaen with 2020 Vision Boards

Sister's visiting Ice Land in Texas