October 22, 2016 - Last Email

Well, this is it! This thursday I will arrive in Dallas and my mission will end. I am feeling a lot of different feelings at the same time. I have loved my time here in Honduras and have learned SO MANY things that will bless me in my life as I continue to grow and learn. I have met some truly amazing people here that have made a huge impact on my life and i will never forget them. 

We had a cool experience this week that I would like to share with you all. We were buying bags of water in a store this week when a random man came up and started to talk to me in really broken up english so I started talking to him thinking that he was drunk (don't know why but the drunk people here always talk to us in english) but as we talked he told us that missionaries had visited him before and that he had gone to church many times. He told us that he has read the Book of Mormon completely and he went on to tell us about his favorite book of mormon story! While he was telling us all of this I was truly shocked by how much he could remember after so many years. He told us that he never got baptized because he thought that it was a really serious thing, and he wasnt ready for it at that time in his life. We invited him to be baptized and he said that he really feels ready for a change in his life. I will never forget the expression on his face when he told us that this was what he has been waiting for in his life. He is preparing to be baptized on November 12th.

I have loved being a missionary and I will definitely miss it as I will miss a lot of things about this country, the people, the culture, the green trees year round, the dirt roads, the insane heat, and never thought I would say it but the rice and beans. I'm so grateful I have been able to come to this country.

Love all of you and want to thank all of you for supporting me and always encouraging me to be better. See you all soon!

Elder Wilks

October 14, 2016 - El fin se acerca

Hey everyone!!! 

This week was really awesome! We have been working hard with all the investigators we have found and are seeing some great progress. It's such a great feeling helping people recognize the things they can improve on in their lives and helping them to progress. 

This next week marks the last full week of being a missionary. Crazy how fast two years has flashed by. I was talking to president this week about the last few weeks of my mission and he challenged me to share my testimony as many times as I can in these last few weeks I have as a missionary and it has been awesome testifying to others about this wonderful gospel every chance I get. It has helped me to feel the spirit more and remember why it is that I left everything for two years to share the gospel with others. 

I have been meditating a lot lately about the past couple of years and everything that has happened. I can honestly say that serving a mission has been the best decision I have ever made in my life. I have learned so much and seen so many miracles. I have also learned more about the Savior Jesus Christ and his Atonement and have been able to feel the love he has for all of us. Thank you all for your support and especially to my family for always encouraging me to be better.

Love all of you. 

Elder Wilks

October 8, 2016 - POLLO CHUCO!!

Hey everyone!!

This week was really great!

I dont really know what to write honestly so I will attach a few pictures that will help describe what happened this week.

I know that this church is true and that Jesus Christ is my savior! Love all of you!!

Elder Wilks

September 24, 2016 - SPSE

This week was a really good one. We are working really hard to find the people that are ready to be baptized. Elder Francisco is a beast and I'm learning so much from him. Really happy to have him as my last companion.

We found this really awesome family this week named the Martinez family and they are a little black family and they are the happiest people I've ever met! Their living conditions aren't really that great and they have had a hard time trying to find work and ways to pay for things. Its been a really good experience visiting them though because eventhough they dont have the best living conditions they are always happy. So I have tried to just be happy this week just like the Martinez family. 

Adios!!

Elder Wilks

September 17, 2016 - DR+TX=OREO

This week was transfer week! Everything went well and there are some solid new missionaries that came to our mission! It's always awesome seeing them and feeling the energy they have to work hard and preach this gospel. Many of them dont know much Spanish, but they dont care!! They go for it without any fear! Gonna be some awesome missionaries. 

My new companion is Elder Francisco! He is from the Dominican Republic! He is super awesome and actually speaks English really well so he has been correcting me when I say something the wrong way in English haha. We are both really excited for this change and have a lot of potential investigators. 

Last saturday Virginia got baptized!! It was a great service and she got up and bore her testimony at the end of the service and just started crying. She has had a tough journey to get to this point and now she is happy to be here. 

Love all of you. Talk to you next week!

Elder Wilks

September 10, 2016 - YO

Hey everyone!!!

This week was really a good one! We had the opportunity to have Elder Alonso from the first quorum of the seventy do a mission tour here in the mission. It was awesome to learn from him. He gave some powerful messages and he motivated the entire mission to recommit to exact obedience and explained what can happen if we as missionaries are exactly obedient. 

Next week is change week and elder Solis is leaving.  So that means I will spend my last change with my new companion and I will have to teach him everything we have to do and hope he will be ready to take things over after this change. 

My testimony was strengthened this week as I listened to elder Alonso teach us about the spirit. If we live righteously and keep the commandments, we will have the spirit with us and the spirit will be there to direct us and "will show unto you all things what ye should do." 2 Nefi 32:5. It is such a great promise we have and it is so important in missionary work. 

Love y'all!!

Elder Wilks

September 3, 2016 - YOOOOOO SOY UN HIJO DE DIOS!!!!

Hey everyone!! This week was a good one! 

We are still working with Hermana Virginia!! She had her baptismal date for today and our district leader went to do the interview and she told him that she wanted to wait another week to be able to stengthen her testimony a little more. We know it is the right decision and feel like it will help her a lot. 

Another cool thing that happened is that Elder Nuñez (my son) is the new secretary!!! Its been so cool to be with him again after more than a year. 

Everyone keeps reminding me how much time I have left in my mission and it's so crazy to me! Time has gone by so fast and it makes me sad that I only have a couple more months being a missionary. Its definitely been worth it though. Love helping others increase their testimonies of the Savior. Through all of my service I think the one who has benefited the most is myself. I have learned whats really important in life and the person that heavenly father needs me to be. 

Love all of you guys!

Elder Wilks

August 20, 2016 - La Lima Week 14!

This week was a really good one!! 

We did super well in the area this week with finding new investigators to teach. We are still working with Hermana Virginia and she is progressing so much! She has a baptismal date for the 27th of August so we are doing all we can to help her feel prepared for that date. We also found a less active family the other day and there are two of them that aren't members of the church yet so we are super pumped to get to work with that family and get them back to church!! 

Love being a missionary. Sorry for the short message love you all!!

Elder Wilks

Pics:

-Coolest kid ever!

-My companion and I waiting at a bus stop

-The missionaries of "BARRIO LA LIMA"

August 13, 2016 - La Lima Week 13!

Hey everyone! 

So last week was change week and it all went really smoothly. President Carlisle was a little lost because it's the first time he has done changes here, but everything turned out great. In the final dinner we had, (where all of the missionaries that are going home have a final dinner with president) there was such a great spirit as we all listened to the testimonies of those who finished their missionary service. One of them was my old companion Elder Patterson and it was fun being with him for the day.

This week was really great! Elder Solis and I are working a lot in our area now and we have been talking to a lot of people about the Gospel!! It has been a little to find people who will let us into their home and listen to our message, but we know there are people waiting for this message in their lives. On Thursday we did divisions with some zone leaders from a part of the mission and I went with an elder named Elder Lopez from Mexico! It was such an awesome day being with him and I learned so much. He is the only member of his family and his family was actually completely against him coming on the mission. Such a great example of faith and humility. 

I am loving the mission right now. Elder Solis and I are like best friends and we are always joking around and having fun. Its been awesome being with him and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people here in La Lima. 

Elder Wilks

July 30, 2016 - La Lima Week 11!

So this week was a really busy one but also a really awesome week full of cool experiences. On Wednesday we did divisions with the Zone Leaders in Progreso!! And I had the opportunity to go back to my old area and work there with elder Francisco for a day! It was a really awesome experience to see some of the investigators I was working with when I left who are now baptized. Ricardo was one of the most frustrating investigators for us when I was there, because he would never get up on Sunday's to go to church, but now he has gone to church every Sunday since he got baptized and now is going to seminary every day! Really awesome to see how much some of the people have changed there. 

A funny experience we had this week was when we were on our way to the office in the car with the secretaries. The mission office is in the city of San Pedro Sula and there are a lot of homeless people who do really cool tricks on the streets to get people to give them money. So there was this guy who came up to the window and we thought we would give him a few Lempiras. When I gave him the money I started talking to him in my made up Chinese language (jibberish that only I can understand) and he kind of looked at me with the most confused face and just walked away. I guess it was the first time he had heard a gringo speak in Chinese..

This week is change week! It will be busy and fun because there are 19 missionaries that are going home and only 9 that are coming to the mission. So we are going to have to close a few areas throughout the mission sadly.. President Carlisle has already got the hang of things and we are able to work in our area almost every day now. Hoping to be able to have some baptisms in the month of August. 

Chequeleke panqueque  

Elder Wilks

July 23, 2016 - La Lima Week 10!

Heyyyy!!!!

The past few weeks have been super busy!!! We have been dedicating most of our time to helping president Carlisle become more familiar with the mission and explaining everything to him. It has been a great experience being close to president and being able to help him.

As for investigators we are teaching we haven't been able to work in our area as much as we would like in the past change but this past week we have been in the area every day and we have found a bunch of people that are really ready for our message. So we are getting things back up and running and hope to be able to help all of the people we have found gain a strong testimony of this Gospel and be baptized. 

I know this work is the Lords work. I feel so happy to be able to be a missionary and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not perfect and I have a lot of things I need to improve and I'm reminded of that every day as I teach about Jesus Christ to others. The gospel is true and there is no doubt about that. I love all of you and hope you all are doing well. 

Elder Wilks

Here are a few pictures of our trip to Roatan with President and Sister Carlisle! 

July 9, 2016 - La Lima Week 8

Hey!!

The past couple of weeks have been super busy, but also some of the best weeks of my mission. President and Sister Carlisle are here!! We went to pick them up from the airport with President Klein and they are so excited to be here!! 

The first few days here we took them throughout the entire mission so they could meet all of the missionaries and tell them all a little about themselves. They are both starting to get the hang of things "poco a poco". 

Last Sunday we went to church in a small branch called "Coyoles" that has about 50 people in their meetings each Sunday. President Carlisle shared his testimony in the and there was an amazing spirit in the meeting as he expressed his love for the people in that little branch in Coyoles. It was a very humbling experience for all of us. 

It has been tough being out of the area so much the last few weeks, but this week we were able to get back to work and we found some awesome new people to teach! We are way pumped for that. 

Here is a quote I think is super awesome. 

“You can never get enough of what you don't need, because what you don't need won't satisfy you.”  

Its so true! I have some people on my mission that really are the happiest people ever. Even though they don't have much and sometimes wonder if they will have enough money to buy their next meal, they are happy. Material things don't make us happy. One of the many things I have learned on my mission.

Love you guys!!

Elder Wilks

June 25, 2016 - La Lima Week 6!

This week went by super fast!! 

It was an awesome week filled with lots of cool experiences and I wish I could share every single one of them with you, but like always there isn't enough time. 

It was change week this week!! Really have never experienced a more chaotic day in my life. The good thing is that everyone got to their new areas safely. That same day we had the last dinner with the missionaries who were headed home! They are an awesome group and I was able to get to know and serve with many of them. Good experience to see them all together and listening to all of the cool experiences they have had in the past two years. 

Yesterday we had an awesome meeting with all of the District Leaders in the whole mission! We talked about the importance of following up with how missionaries are doing with their progressing investigators and investigators with a baptismal date. Almost all of the District Leaders had questions which was awesome because they were able to learn new things about their assignment. We are really excited to see how that affects the mission as they apply all of the things we talked about in the meeting. 

Well this Tuesday President Carlisle gets here to the mission. We are excited and sad also because President Klein is leaving. It will be a crazy week though because the first 4 days that President Carlisle is here we are going to take him throughout the whole mission to meet all the missionaries. Should be awesome I will let you all know next week with pictures and everything.

Cheque! Les quiero!!

Elder Wilks

June 18, 2016 - La Lima Week 5!

This week was a great one!! 

We went to La Ceiba on Tuesday for the last Multi Zone conference and everything went very well. What I liked most about that last conference were the councils and tips that President Klein gave to all of us. He talked a lot about marriage, family, and working hard in everything we do. I could really feel and see the love he has for every one of us and I'm grateful for him. 

After the meeting, Elder Solis and I were able to pass by BUENOS AIRES!! (my second area) It was so awesome to see everyone and so crazy to think that I was there over a year ago! I will include pictures of the people I was able to see.

Yesterday we had the Zone leaders from miramar come to our area to work for the day and it was a really good day with lots of good experiences. I learned so much from Elder Bryant. 

This week is changes so that means it will be a really busy week for us. Sorry for the short message, but here is a quote I really like:

"Of this be sure: You don't find the happy life, you make it." -Thomas S. Monson

Love, 

Elder Wilks

It rained pretty hard for about a half hour yesterday and this is what happened.. There is no draining systems here so it floods really easily.