Dear Family,
Life has been a whirlwind the past week. Lots of changes. I am
now in Bartlett, Tennesse with not just one companion, but two! Sister
Yuen from Hawaii and Sister Bridgewater from Idaho Falls, Idaho. They
are wonderful girls. We have a lot of fun together. Amazingly
enough, we have had absolutely no problems sharing our one bedroom, one
bathroom apartment, no problems teaching, no personality
clashes...nothing. What a blessing. Funny though, when we found out a
transfer ago that there would be a trio of sisters soon
because of the uneven number of sisters, Sister Gladden said to me, no
joke, "If there would be one sister who could be sweet and easy to get
along with and good in a trio, it would be you Sister Wilde".
She called it. We both had a feeling I would be in
the trio 6 weeks before it happened. It's going well. Bartlett is
like this unearthly nice place..I keep looking for the ghetto, but they
don't have one! I never thought I would say this, but the other night I
said to my companions, "It's weird to be in
homes that are clean and nice and don't smell like smoke. I think I
feel more comfortable in houses that smell like smoke." hahaha. It's
kinda true though. There are 2 wards here, and we are over both of
them. We are on a car share though, so that's kinda rough.
This past week has been walk week. We would bike, but Sis Bridgewater
hasn't riden a bike since she was 12- and even walking it into our
apartment, she fell on the curb and scraped up her knee pretty bad.
haha. So we walk. Which is good cause we found 8 new
investigators in 4 days. :) Another plus-when we first got to the
apartment, there were only two beds. So that night, I took the cushions
off the couch and made a bed that looks like a Catholic cross. Wasn't
too bad, but we got a bed that next day and things
are good.
On my first full day in Bartlett, President called me-and without
taking a breath said, "Sister Wilde I have bad news for you your
mother's father passed away". He and Sis Petersen drove 2.5 hours to
Bartlett so that he could give me a priesthood blessing.
This was very kind of them. Apparently, he had found out a few days
earlier and meant to tell me on Wednesday(transfer day) but we had
gotten stuck in traffic, he was busy, and it completely slipped his
mind. As he visited with me on Thursday, he realized
something. He said he thinks that it was supposed to have happened
that way, because if he had told me on Wednesday, he would have had no
time to spend with me, let me talk to my dad, or give me a blessing. He
would have left me in a puddle on the floor.
This way, he had more time. I'm grateful for that. In the blessing I
received, I was blessed with the love of Jesus Christ. I feel that that
was fulfilled in an experience I had on Saturday.
On Saturday, we had the opportunity to attend the baptism of
Rachel and Johnny Clemons. I don't know these children very well-I had
never taught them, and had just barely met them. But as I looked at
these beautiful kids, I felt overwhelmed with love.
I loved them. Even thinking of them brings tears to my eyes. Witnessing
that baptismal service was the most spiritual experience I have ever
had. The speakers loved these children too. As the children were
baptized, the sweetest reverance filled the room.
I can't describe the feeling that I felt. It was a privilege to be
there and feel that pure feeling. After Rachel was confirmed, she opened
her eyes and silent tears streamed down her face. She is only 10 years
old-but the look on her face showed that she
understood the importance of the decision she made that day. She knew.
It was a sacred experience.
I got to meet a very special man named Brother Lackey. In our
visit with him, two really cool things happened. One. He has the EXACT
same remote that we used to have when we had our Mitsubishi TV. The
big long black one with the blue power button.
I know you guys will remember it. I freaked. I asked him if I could
take a picture of it. haha. I loved it. Two. Sis Bridgewater asked
Bro Lackey if he liked chocolate cake. He said yes. She said, "well
when you eat a bite of good chocolate cake, you
don't have to eat the whole thing to know it's good, right? Well
that's how it is with reading the book of mormon". A few days later, we
went back to his house. At the end of the lesson, Bro Lackey said,
"Did you girls bring chocolate cake?" "Umm no..but
we have the Book of Mormon." And then he told us that he made us
chocolate cake!! Who does that??! It was the sweetest things I have
ever seen. I love Bro Lackey.
Gotta go but I love you all.
love sister wilde
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