March 16, 2015

So this week was probably the most eventful one of my mission. Everything was pretty regular until thursday. We got up early to go help one of the members in our branch go chop some wood. So the wood they had was really skinny so we just chopped it up with a machete. The way we cut the wood is by standing it up vertically and just cutting through it with the machete. So we were there for about 10 minutes and i cut through a piece of wood and the machete followed through and hit me in the knee! My first thought was, "man i hope that didnt cut me" but i looked down and saw blood dripping down my leg.. So we went to the doctor and he stitched it up with 4 or 5 stitches and it was good as new. So that happened haha

Something else that happened was we were all able to go to San Pedro Sula and listen to an apostle speak to us!! Niel L. Anderson came and spoke to the San pedro sula east and west missions. So before the meeting started me and elder Andrews were sitting and waiting for the meeting to start and our Mission president came up to elder Andrews and said, "Elder Anderson has asked to get a picture with you and your companion before the meeting starts" So we went out and were the first ones to greet Elder anderson and we got a few pictures with him too!! So he knows elder Andrews because his wife sister anderson grew up with Elder Andrews Grandma. So apparently his grandma texted them and told them to take a picture with Elder Andrews. I got pretty lucky haha. It was really cool to just talk to an apostle of the lord for about 5 minutes. The message he gave to all of us missionaries was centered on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was really great to hear him speak and really inspired me to be a more consecrated missionary. 

We also got to visit an area in San pedro sula called San Juan. It was really cool to see the difference from my area in Sonaguera and the Area in San Juan. 

Wish i had more time to write but my time is almost up. Love all of you guys and would love to hear about everything that is going on!! 

Elder Wilks

March 9, 2015

HOLA!!!!

This week was way awesome!! My Companion Elder Andrews and I are working in two areas which means that we have been SUPER busy the whole week!! We will usually spend half the day in one area and then the other half of the day in the other area. We are walking a lot and the weather here is really heating up. The hottest week of the year here is called the "Semana Santa" Which is like holy week. Im still not sure what it is or what everyone will do that week, but it is always the hottest week of the year and i is the first week of April. I would choose hot weather over cold weather any day of the week though so i am happy here. haha

Elder Andrews is from San Diego California and he is super awesome!! We get along really well and he is a hard worker. Its funny sometimes because everyone looks at us so weird here. Seeing two Gringos walking down the street here isn't very common so the people are usually pretty surprised when they see us. A lot of peole will try to speak English to us too and we will usually just tell them we don't speak english and when people ask where we are from we say south africa. Many people believe us too its funny.

So we are still teaching the Gallardo family who we have been teaching for over 2 months. We have challenged them to baptism like 5 times and they tell us they need more time every time we ask. But they really have changed in the past couple of weeks and they are reading all the assignments we give them and they have come to church 4 weeks in a row. I think they are almost there. Since we are covering two areas we have twice as many people to teach. Its alot of work, but it is good to always be busy. 

Love this work and I know that this is where i am supposed to be. Putting aside everything and dedicating ALL of my time to Missionary work has been such a blessing already in the 4 months i have been out. My knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ grows more and more every day and it is so awesome to see other people's lives be blessed by it. Love each and every one of you and hope you all have a great week!!

Here is a picture of the baptism we had on Saturday!! The one in the middle was our investigator and the little boy on the outside is a boy who just turned 8 in the branch! But our converts name is Erlin and he is 14!! I was only a part of teaching two lessons to him, but it was great to get to know him better and help him arrive to this part in his life! He is a great kid and is super smart!

 

March 3, 2015

This week was crazy!!! We are now covering 2 areas with 3 missionaries so we picked up a ton of new invesitgators from the other area. We are pretty much running every where to visit everyone. The changes we are seeing in everyone makes it all worth it. 

This week i really realized how blessed I am with the life that I have. One day we were out going to different appointments and we were thirsty so we went to a pulperia which is like a mini gas station with snacks and stuff. While we were waiting in line i see this little 2 or 3 year old girl run up to us and say one word. "Pisto" Looking at this little girl without any shoes on and with dirt smered across her face asking me for money just about broke my heart. Giving her the 5 lempiras that i had probably made her day. This really got me thinking about how blessed i am with the life i have. Some of the people here wonder where their next meal will come from. Really just a humbling experience being here and seeing people with so little, but yet always being happy. Thankful for the Gospel that I have and I know that each and every one of you have a lot to be thankful for aswell.

I invite all of you to take one day this week and just look for all the blessing you have. Big or small we all have alot to be thankful.

Love all of you!!

Elder Wilks

Feb. 23, 2015

So this week was super awesome! We are going around talking to everyone trying to find new people to teach. The thing about Honduras is that EVERYONE will let you into their house and listen to what you have to say, but a lot of them don't really want to change. So we are really looking for people who heavenly father has prepared for us.

 Its really just weird. There is a church literally on every corner here. So there is a lot of talk about the bible and religon amongst the people here. It is really awesome to find people who have questions about the bible and being able to answer them though. It has really increased my desire to really STUDY the scriptures too. A lot of times i would read them just to read them, but really studying and pondering what they are saying has really allowed me to get such a great understanding of what the scriptures are saying. 

We are working with a family named the Gallardo Family who we have been teaching for over a month. We have challenged them to get baptized 3 times, but they always say they dont feel ready. But this past week we have really noticed a change. The family is really trying to learn and comprehend what we are teaching and they are reading the Book of Mormon and the Bible. They are awesome and we love teaching them. Wish i could tell you all about all of the investigators we are teaching but i dont have that much time. 

Love being a missionary and talking to everyone about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It really brings so much joy to see people change through keeping the Commandments that God has given us. So happy to be serving a mission at the same time as my brothers who have been called to do this great work. 

Love all of you!! have a great week!!!

-Elder Wilks

Shout out to my big sis Abby!! One of the members in the ward was wearing a University of North Texas shirt so i got a picture with him!!

Feb. 16, 2015

Hey!!!

Happy Valentines day to everyone hope it was awesome!!!!

This week was great! We worked a lot with the people we have with baptismal dates. All of them are so awesome!! They are all progressing very well and learning a lot about this wonderful Gospel. At the start of the week, my companion and I said we were really going to focus on these two girls names Enis and Gloria. They had a baptism date for the 14th of February! The challenge with them is that they live really far away!! To come to church they have to walk thirty minutes cross two rivers and then take a 30 minute bus ride! Crazy what a sacrifice it is for them just to come to church! So me and elder araica set the goal to get out there three times this week and we did! It was so great to get out there and really work hard to prepare them for their baptism. 

They are so awesome and i had the incredible opportunity to baptize both of them. It was one of the most spiritual experiences i have ever had!! They are such good people and i am so thankful for the opportunity i had to see them change through the Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

We have another date set with a lady named Alicia. She is about 23 and she has been in contact with the missionaries for a while. She really wanted to get baptized but she wasnt able to because she was living with her boyfriend and he was pretty against the church. But she broke it off with him and now she is more than ready to get baptized.

Love the work that i am a part of. Seeing peoples lives change through living the commandments that god has given us has been such a great experiece. I learn more and more each day and i am so thankful for this opportunity i have to devote two years of my life to serving heavenly father. 

Love all of you hope this week is awesome!

Elder Wilks

p.s. We had a sweet activity this week where we went down to the centro and brought like three boxes full of book of mormons. We asked people what they knew about it and we got some pretty funny answers. But it was sweet!! in all we placed about 55 book of mormons and got a ton of references!

Solid Week! (2/9/15)

So this week was transfers week and I am still in Sonaguera!! Elder Araica is still my companion and we are happy to have another 6 weeks together!! The work here is great!! Yesterday in sacrament meeting we had an attendance of 154!!! That is the highest it has ever been here in Sonaguera. It is only a branch, but they are fixing up to make a ward here pretty soon. We had 12 investigators in the meeting yesterday which was a miracle!! One of our investigating families has to walk 1 hour to get to a bus stop and then they ride the bus 30 minutes to get to church!! Incredible. We have a lot of part member families that we are working with and they are all awesome!! We are teaching them and have goals to baptize all of them into the church. 

It has been great to see the growth here in Sonaguera. When i first got here at the beggining of december there was only 125 people in sacrament meeting. The 6 missionaries who are here have been working hard and we are seeing the blessings that are coming from our work!!

So this week elder Araica and i set a goal to take as many pictures as we could! I will send some to you guys and explain them.

Love you all have a great week!!!

Elder Wilks

(group of stray dogs)

("Biggest pig I have ever seen!!")

Went to an investigators house to help out and do some service, and they have a pet raccoon! 

This is a river we have to cross to get to an investigators house, and we usually get all wet, but someone was nice enough to build a bridge! 

Chopping wood for people. Super fun!!

Great Week (2/2/15)

Hey everyone!! 

So this week was awesome for a number of reasons! I just want to tell you all about one of them though. 

So elder Araica and I received a call on tuesday morning as we were doing our studies. It was a old investigator who lives about 40 minutes away in bus. She said she wanted us to visit her so we said we would come by the next day. So we went and got to know her and it turns out she has been taught all of the lessons and the only reason she wasnt baptized was because her dad didnt want her to. So we challenged her to be baptized for the 14th of February and she said yes! So we finished the lesson and were wanting to head back home. But what we didnt realize is that there wasnt a bus to get back to where we lived. The last one had already left and we were about a 5 hour walk away. So we just started walking not really knowing what we were going to do. We were hoping that a bus would pass us that was coming from a different area but there was nothing the first 30 minutes we were walking. It was starting to get dark and we were just walking on this road. After dark is when things get a little dangerous here too. So we said a prayer. A prayer that somehow someway we could make it back home safely. We continued walking for about 5 more minutes and then we heard a truck come to a stop and yell out to us, "Where you going?" We told him and he said he could take us. What really blows my mind though is that he already had three people in the cab of his truck. So i sat on my companions lap and the other two people squished together so we could all fit. That guy had a number of reasons not to stop for us, but he did. It was a much needed answer to our prayer. So we made it back home safely and were honestly just in shock at what had just happened. It was a great testiomony builder that God really listens and answers our prayers. So thankful for his guidance and protection.

Love all of you! Have a great week!!

Elder Wilks

(Painting a school for a service project.... nice color choice..)