First week in Honduras!

Wow! My first week in Honduras has been one to remember for sure. It is SO HUMID here. I thought texas was bad but it is insane here. All of the members are saying that they are freezing and I'm like dripping sweat so it will take some getting used to. My first two nights here we stayed at the mission home and had our little orientation thing about all of the stuff we need to know. Then on Wednesday we met our companions and went to our different areas. One of the first things that the Mission President told us was that our mission doesn't actually have the city of San Pedro Sula so it's not as dangerous as everyone thinks. So all of you have nothing to worry about haha:)

My first companion is Elder Zhingre!! He is from Ecuador and he is a really funny guy. He doesnt know a whole lot of english so i usually have to speak spanish to explain myself. We are in a place called Sonaguera which is about 6 hours away from the City so that was a fun little bus ride. We are in a little branch that has about 100 people who come to church each sunday. Most of the time it's standing room only because the church is so small. We walk every where so the first few days here were absolutely exausting, but im adjusting to everything. 

Oh and guess what?! We shower with a bucket every morning! Haha its usually freezing cold water but it feels good because its so hot here. I have had rice and beans every meal since i got here and its actually really good. We have a "cocinera" who cooks lunch for us everyday! We pay her like 20 bucks every week and she feeds us everyday. 

The houses here are usually made of cement and they usually have a metal roof. The culture and lifestyle here is so different and i already love it so much. One day elder zhingre and i were contacting and we came in contact with a family whose name is the Gutierrez family. We sat down and started talking and their first question to us was, "why is joseph smith your God?" We explained that he isn't and that we belive in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as three different beings. We then taught them the first lesson and they are super interested in the church. They came to church yesterday and said they really enjoyed it. 

The people here in Honduras have a really weird accent where they dont pronounce their S's. So its extremely difficult to understand. Instead of San Pedro Sula they say "an pedro ula". Its hard to understand and i know it will take some time. 

In all i absolutely love it here and Im so happy to be serving the people of Honduras. Its so humbling to see people who have close to nothing, but are still willing to give so much. 

Christmas is in 10 days!! Everyone remember the real meaning of christmas and find a way to serve one of your fellow men.

Love all of you guys and hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Wilks

Email - Thanksgiving Day, 2014

Hey everyone, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in Mexico so I need all of you to eat as much turkey as you can for me.

This week was another great week in the CCM. I'm learning a ton! Both about the gospel and about the spanish language. I've actually learned a lot about English too! It's awesome to see how far I've come from week 1.

Me and my zone played a little joke this morning that I thought was super funny. So every week we get a new group of missionaries that come to the CCM. The first couple of days they are here they wear their suit jacket and carry around their green folder. So my companion and I and some other guys in our zone decided that we would wear our jackets and bring our folders to breakfast this morning. I somehow acquired a lisp while I was trying to act like a new missionary and we sat down next to some guys who had been here for a while. After about 30 minutes of us dragging this joke along we finally told them that we were just messing around and they thought it was pretty funny. They were just giving us tips on what to do and telling us all about the CCM. It was super fun to do that this morning. 

Anyways, the CCM is so awesome. I'm working harder than I ever have in my life and I am also the happiest I have ever been in my life. I leave for HONDURAS in about a week and a half and I'm so excited. I know that the first month or so will be super tough, but I know that Heavenly Father will be helping me every step of the way. These 4 weeks have gone by so fast I can't believe it. 

I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to go teach other people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is my brother and I love him so much. My testimony of the Atonement has been strengthened so much since being here. Repentance is real and I know that for sure.

Ether 12:27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Love you guys. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Elder Wilks

Photos from the week of November 20, 2014

Email November 20, 2014

Hey everyone!! I'm having a great time in the MTC! I'm learning a lot of spanish and I can't believe how far i've come since i got here! 

We were all able to listen to a talk from Elder Bednar this week that really made an impact on me. He talked about how we can all strive to be more like Christ. One of the points he made was that when we feel stressed or let down we tend to turn inward, but christ is the exact opposite. He always turned outward. He shared the example of when Christ went into the Garden of Gethsemane and he told his disciples to just stay awake with him for one hour. When he returned from suffering for  all of our sins, he found his disciples sleeping. Three of his closest followers. He could have felt betrayed and turned inwards, but he did the exact opposite. He turned outward and healed the ear that Peter cut off. He turned outward and gave service to one of his fellow men. 

Mosiah 2: 17, When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

I loved that so much. We all need to serve others and try everyday to forget about yourself and just try to be more selfless. Love this Gospel so much and I can t wait to share it with the people in Honduras!

Love yall,

Elder Wilks

Email November 13, 2014

Second week in the MTC was AWESOME. I don't even know where to start.
 We were playing cage soccer one day which is like soccer but you're trapped inside of a cage. And one of the Elders who just got to the MTC jumped up in the air to get the ball and came down and landed on the side of his foot. He instantly started screaming in pain and we looked down at his ankle and it was totally crooked. One of the most disgusting things I have ever looked at. We had some guys run to the enfermería to get some help and as we were waiting, the elder asked to have a priesthood blessing. We blessed him that he would be okay and that the pain he was feeling would be numbed. The second we finished the prayer he said he could hardly feel any pain. This was such a great testimony builder to me on the priesthood. We found out the next day that he had just dislocated his ankle and they told him he can't walk on it for a couple of months. He has to go home and I feel so bad for him because he just got here and he seemed to really be enjoying it. 

My district and I were able to go visit the temple today! It was so cool to drive throughout Mexico City and see all of the things that people do differently here. Dogs are like squirrels. There's dogs literally everywhere you look and at night you can hear them barking. Makes me a little sad. 

The main difference in the traffic here is that there aren't really any lanes. So we will be driving down the road and the car next to you will be less than a foot away from the side of the bus. It's crazy but awesome at the same time. The temple was so pretty. There's some remodeling going on inside so we weren't able to go in, but just being there was really really cool.

I feel like spanish is coming along OK. Right when I feel like I have a good handle on it I go and try to speak to one of the Latino elders and then my confidence goes way down because I have no idea what they are saying half the time. My confidence is like a roller coaster.

I'm leaving for Honduras on December 8th and I couldn't be more excited. Only about 3 and a half more weeks to go! One of my teachers said that people speak very fast in Honduras. So fast that even he cant understand what they're saying. I'm not too worried about it because I know that Heavenly Father will bless me to be able to communicate with those people so they can hear of his word.

Hope everything is going well with all of you. Love and miss you guys so much.

James 1:5 

Si alguno de vosotros tiene falta de sabiduría, pidala a Dios, quien da a todas abundantemente y sin reproche, y le será dada.

Love,

Elder Wilks

Photos November 6, 2014

Photos from Elder Wilks first week in the MTC. So happy to see his smiling face!

Email Nov. 6, 2014 FINALLY!!!

Here is Elder Wilks' latest email:

I love it here! The first day I got here was a little crazy because my flight got delayed for four hours! Didnt get here until about 11:30 so I ended up having to sneak into my house because all the other elders were already asleep. The next morning when we woke up I saw the other elders in my room and just said "HOLA AMIGOS". That scared them half to death because they didn't know i was even there.hahaha

My companions name is elder Vincent. He's from California and he's pretty cool. There are 6 sister missionaries and 2 elders in our group. Which is not very common. Everyone in my district is really cool and we are all becoming really good friends.

There is a group of Latinos who live in the same house as us and they are hilarious! We usually talk to them every night before we go to bed and thats one of the highlights of my day. It also really helps with my spanish. One of them asked me how long i had been here at the MTC. When i told them i had only been here a week they seemed very surprised. He told me that my spanish was very good for only being here for a week. I feel like I have learned more spanish this week than i did in the three years i took spanish in school.

Our days are really busy here. From the minute you wake up to the minute you go to sleep you are expected to be working on something. The first couple of days were kind of rough because everything is so new and you are just overwhelmed with everything thats happening. But it is awesome here i love it so much. 

The first day i got here i saw THE Elder Felt!!! It was so great to see him and catch up on everything. So surreal that we are both out here serving missions. 

Our investigators name is Eric C. and we have taught him 4 times. We used the little spanish that we knew and asked him to be baptized last time we met with him. He accepted and is coming to church this sunday to learn more.

I love the spirit that is here at the MTC. Everyone is so friendly and the environment is so unique. We had a devotional about serving with all your Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength. It was such a good devotional and i think it motivated all of us missionaries to work hard. 

Love and miss all of you guys.

    Elder Wilks