Hey Guys!

A Note From Mom:  The Priest quorum adviser approached me on Sunday and asked if I would have E. Wise write a letter to the priests in our ward explaining why he went on a mission.  This is Elder Wise's reply.  I thought you might like to see it.

Hey guys!!  I hope you are all doing well! I just wanted to tell you a little bit about why I decided to serve a mission.  Serving a mission was something I had pretty much always planned on doing.  But when the time came to really decide if I was going to go or not, I wasn't really sure.  But there wass one thing that I knew for sure.  It was that I held the priesthood.  What does that have to do with anything?  Well let me tell ya.  As priesthood holders we enter into a covenant. And part of that covenant is to serve others.  If we hold the priesthood, it is our DUTY and RESPONSIBILITY to serve others.  That is something that we promised we would do.  And the scriptures tell us very clearly, in D&C 89, that those who break this covenant, will not have remission of sins in this life or the life to come.  Well that's kinda scary!  The blessings that come from serving others are incredible.   Something I've noticed before my mission as well as on my mission is that serving others brings more happiness than anything in the whole world.  No joke.  It is the greatest thing ever to know that you were able to bless someone's life and help them out.  It's not always easy, but as we sacrifice for the Lord's children, we are blessed, and more importantly, they are blessed!  So that's why I decided to serve a mission.  I wanted to fulfill my priesthood responsibility, and serve others.  And it's the greatest thing ever!  And if you don't believe me, then try it!  It's blessed my life so so so so much!  I am so thankful for this chance I have to be serving a mission.  Love you guys!  

Bombin

Let me see.  What happened this week?  We had some good lessons.  Helped a lot of people out.  Carlos is doing really good.  Still no word from the first presidency though!  Ugh!  Oh well.  Patience is a Christ-like attribute I guess.  Have I told you about Mike at all? Mike is a cool guy.  Up until now he hasn't really been progressing too much.  When we would invite him to be baptized and stuff, he would say "I've already been baptized!"  But the Lord has really been softening his heart!  When we saw him last week he surprised us and told us he wants to be baptized!  We haven't set a date with him yet though.  He still has a ways to go haha. But this huge.  It's great!

Let's see...oh we found Carlos and Grace a new fridge.  Theirs died.  So we found them a new one! They were very appreciative. The day we did that I was on exchanges with another missionary.  Elder Reid.  He is a cool guy!  He's a ginger. haha.  

The other elders in our ward had a baptism on Saturday.  That was awesome!  They asked me to do the baptism interview for him.  His name is Raymond.  He's 10 years old.  It was cool!  My first baptism interview.  The elders also asked us to speak at the baptism so that was fun.  I'm starting to get some ideas for the talk I will send for Lucie's baptism!  So that's good!  

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well at home!  I'm glad Sadie enjoyed the Stu-Co Camp!  That's great!  And I'm glad the cupcake stand went well haha!

I'm so jealous you got to see How to Train Your Dragon 2!  I love number 1.  And Lego movie is good?  That's good to hear!  I was worried it might be horrible.  I can't wait to watch it when I'm home!  

And I'm super glad Lucie likes the shirt!!  That was kind of her Lucie day present haha.  

GG is 95?  Good for her!!  That sounds like it will be a fun party!  

I will write that email for Bro Blackham.  Hopefully his lesson goes well!

Sadly, I didn't see the James' family :(  I hope they are doing alright! 

Have a great week!! 

Love, Elder Wise

Not a Bad Week

This is Alex!  And Elder Raff was able to come back for the baptism.  So that was cool!

Well obviously, the biggest news is Alex's Baptism!!  Whoohoo!!  It was really awesome.  Went off without a hitch.  Just as smooth as butter.  Alex had me baptize him which is always a good time!  And Carlos bore his testimony while we were changing and stuff.  It was really cool to have an investigator bear his testimony at a baptism.  Carlos is the freaking bomb.  Speaking of Carlos, we still haven't heard back from the First Presidency yet.  President Van Cott sent in his letter of recommendation though.  So hopefully we hear back soon.  The good news is that Carlos will be able to be baptized in September, no matter what.  That's when he is off probation.  So he will be getting baptized no later then September, and possibly earlier!  So at least that.

Lesson wise, it was kind of a slow week.  We spent a lot of time getting the baptism ready to go, and on top of that, the majority of the appointments we did have set fell through.  This next week will be loads better though I'm sure.  

We had Zone Meeting this week.  My first one.  It went really well!  At least in my opinion.  So that was good.  We trained on the Area Book, teaching simply, and planning effectively.  So it was good.  We also found 4 new investigators this week!  As well as several different potentials.  So we are excited to see how everything turns out this next week.  

Sounds like it was a crazy week back home!! Holy moly. Let's see.  The only 6 week missionary I really knew was Elder Freestone.  He was in my district in the Desert, and I went on exchanges with him one day.  He was super cool.  I liked him a lot.  But none of my companions have been 6 weekers.  Elder Freestone was a boss though.  I love that kid.  

And yeah, our mission president has spent a lot of time talking to us about the covenant of the mission call.  It's pretty sweet!  

I am so jealous they went waterskiing!  Man I miss that so much.  I think you guys better have the boat ready to go the second I step off that plane haha.  We're hittin the lake! 

That's awesome that McKay got shown around the MTC by Zac Brown!  That's so awesome!  Haha what a small Mormon world.  

I will keep my eye out for the James family!  That would be super cool to see them!  And I would be more than willing to give a blessing. No problemo! 

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!!  Cali is awesome!  Missionary work is awesome!  Love you guys!!

Love, Elder Wise

Phew!

It was hot this week.  Except I don't think it really was.  As in I think the hottest it got was only like 90's, but I was dying.  Other than that it was a pretty good week though!  We spent a lot of time planning for the baptism we will be having this Friday!!! Alex is getting baptized! We have to do it on Friday because his mom works on Saturday.  Elder Raff is going to come back for a few hours to be one of the witnesses and give a talk so that will be fun.  And Alex asked me to baptize him so I'm stoked for that!  Carlos is still doing really well also.  We are still waiting for that first presidency approval. Hopefully it will come soon! And the biggest miracle of the week was that Tony came back!!! Kind of anyway.  We found him outside his apartment one day and talked with him for a min.  I guess they had found a new house and were going to move.  Which is awesome.  They really needed to get out of their old place.  He was the happiest I had seen him in a long time.  So we helped him move the next day and while we were moving him, his mom was like "I want to get baptized."  And we were like "What?!?!".  In the past she has been very much not interested.  She was fine with us teaching tony, but she wanted nothing to do with it.  But now her heart has been softened and she wants to be baptized!  We didn't even ask her!  She's legit haha.  The sad part is that they moved out of our area so we won't be the ones teaching them anymore.  Chances are I'll still be able to see them every so often cause the ward they are in now meets in our building.  So we are really stoked that that all went so well!

The rest of the week was kind of boring.  Nothing really went on.  We had a Mission Leadership Council Meeting on Thursday.  All the ZL's and STL's (sister training leaders) and the mission president met and had a great training meeting.  President taught us what we are supposed to teach the rest of the missionaries.  So tomorrow we are having a Zone Meeting and Elder Hayden and I get to pass along all the things that we learned last Thursday haha.  It's a good time I guess.  

Sounds like things back home are going great!!!  I'm glad to hear that the white boat finally got fixed up!!  I need some more pics of it haha!!! I miss boating so much.  I hope the scout camp all goes well too!  It sounds like a lot of fun!!

I hadn't heard about Sadie's job!  Way to go Sade!  And McKay leaves on Wednesday??  That's nuts!  He is going to love it.  Probably.  You either love the MTC or hate it haha.  

I got my packages last week!! They are great!! Thanks so much!!  Just in time for the baptism on Friday.  I really needed some white shirts. 

Well, I hope you all have a really great week!!  Cali is great! I love it here even though it's hot!! Haha  Love yall!

-Elder Wise

Hola!

Well this week was kinda crazy.  My new companion Elder Hayden is a pretty cool guy.  He's from Virginia, and yeah he used to be in the Riverside mission.  He has been out about 19 months.  He's been teaching me the ropes of being a ZL.  Haha it's not so bad.  I think it might be a little harder if we had a car cause then we would have to run errands for people and stuff, but since we are on a bike still, it's like, sorry, can't really help you cause I can't ride 45 minutes to your area haha.  So it's fun.

This week went pretty well!  We put another investigator on date to be baptized!! She's going to be baptized on July 19.  It's gonna be sweet! Alex is still doing really awesome too.  He's going to be baptized on June 14 still.  We are going over all the details with him tonight.  Carlos is still super awesome, but since he's been on probation, we have to get First Presidency approval to baptize him, so we are waiting to hear from them.  He has his interview tomorrow with the mission president.  And we still haven't been able to get a hold of Tony.  He's like vanished from off the face of the earth.  

 So we went over to try and give Melanie a blessing on Wednesday afternoon.  We got to the front desk and asked to see her and they said she had been discharged already.  And she wasn't answering that phone number you gave me.  So we just had to leave.  I was pretty bummed. I really wanted to see her! But they said she was already gone.

Speaking of the hospital.  This morning Bobby calls us and is like "I'm dying! Get over here!"  I guess he was moving some stuff around yesterday for a friend, and threw out his back and he couldn't walk this morning and was in a lot of pain.  So we dragged him to his car and drove him to the ER.  I guess everything is alright.  He just called us and asked us to go pick him up again.  So that was exciting.  

I haven't gotten the package you sent yet.  But I'm sure it will be here soon.  Probably tomorrow.  Thank you sooooo much!!  

Grandpa's motorcycle is awesome!!! I'm so glad he got a new one!! :)  And I'm so jealous about the boat! That is what I miss most.  Hands down haha.  

Amelia got married?!  That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard.  And I'm glad Bro Erickson got home! That's so great! 

That sounds like a great book!!! I wish I could read it!  But I don't think that's an approved book :(  I will have to read it when I get home.  Can't wait!  

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!!  Missionary work is awesome!  I love it here in Cali!  

I love you guys!!!!

-Elder Wise