Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Last Week...!

I can't believe there's only one week left! That's so insane! It's really shaping up to be a fantastic week though. We are going to be busy busy busy everyday.  Last week was pretty awesome too.  First off, the baptism that was scheduled for this Saturday is still on! And in fact, it's actually going to be a double baptism! Lisa (the mom) is going to be baptized, as well as her daughter Lakota! We have to work fast for Lakota though. Originally she wasn't really on board to be baptized with her mom, but she decided she really wants to be. She's 8 yrs old.  So we are meeting with them every day this week, and her interview is tomorrow.  There shouldn't be any problems though. So we are really excited about that!

Also, one of the people we are teaching made some great progress this week. A few weeks ago she started looking on the internet and found a lot of anti stuff.  But despite that she has continued to let us come by. It's been really cool to see the change in her though. She used to be very argumentative about everything and would always reject invitations, but now we have helped her get past most of that and in the last week she read all the way from 1 Nephi 1, to 2 Nephi 6!  And her heart has softened soooo much!  It's so cool to see the Spirit working on her heart.  She's still not quite willing to come to church with us, but we are almost there! Hopefully next Sunday

That's most of the awesome spiritual stuff. One of the cool things that happened though was on Saturday night.  We went to contact an investigator that lives pretty close to our house, and as we got out of the car I heard a U2 song playing really loudly.  And I was like "heck yeah!". At first I thought it was the neighbors just blasting some music, but I soon found out that at the park just down the road, there was a U2 Tribute band playing.  2 hours of straight U2 classics haha.  They were actually pretty good! I'm definitely going to have to listen to the real U2 Concert when I get home haha. Oh and don't worry, we didn't stay for the whole 2 hours. We only listened for a minute or two haha. 

And yeah, I think that's about it.  Glad to hear everything is going well!! The camp out sounds pretty fun! That's too bad that Lucie wasn't feeling too good though.  

Well, I can't wait to see you guys!! Just one more week! :)

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, August 3, 2015

Ahhh!

Holy moly.  Ok this last week was pretty good!  We had quite a bit of success! Let's see, well this week we had a senior couple move into the area. Elder and Sister Schroeder. They are super awesome!!  They are from Idaho and they are just super excited to be here. They are such a blessing to the ward. They actually cover both wards here in Yucca Valley.  So we took them to several lessons with us and it has been amazing.  Miracles are occurring. They are able to work with a lot of single sisters we can't meet with, and connect with some of the older people we have been trying to help.  For instance, there is a super nice old lady that we have been teaching (she was in the other elders area), but not too long ago she found some crazy anti stuff on the internet, so we have been trying to help her get through all that, but it's been a little bit difficult. But we took the Schroeders over with us and Sister Schroeder connected with her so well!!  And we were able to clear up several of her concerns I think.  They were also able to meet with a couple that have been having some marital problems, which Houskeeper and I clearly don't have experience in, and were able to help a lot. So it is just super great to have them here!!

The baptism that we have set up for the 15 of August is still on track too!!  Her name is Lisa and she is super awesome. She had her interview this week and passed with flying colors.  And then she came to church as well which was really the only thing holding her back. So everything is good to go for the 15th!  And Sister Huffer is doing great as well, her baptism date is set for August 22. So I won't be here, but she is super duper excited for it.  For some reason Frankie and Levi (the kids we were teaching) vanished off the face of the earth for the whole week, but we were finally able to catch them last night and have another appointment for tonight. So that was really good.  Lot's of great things happened this week. Sadly I don't have time to go through them all.  But it was a great week. Suffice to say.  

Glad to hear everything is going well at home! No I haven't gotten lucie's letter yet, but I bet I get it today or tomorrow. Can't wait!! Sounds like everyone is having a pretty fun summer!! 

Love you all!! Stay tuned for my last letter next week!  so crazy!!

Love, Elder Wise :)

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Holy Moly...

Time just flies by so fast! This week was pretty super good! It was a fun transition taking over the rest of the ward.  With the addition of the other area, we now have quite a large teaching pool! So that is pretty fun!  Right now we have 8 people who are on date.  So that's pretty awesome.  We have one baptism set for August 8, and a couple others for August 15 (but those will probably be pushed back to the 22) and a couple for the 29.  So the work is going well!  Thanks for all your prayers! They really do help.  We had a few miracles this week which were pretty cool. I'll just share a small one.  We drove way out into the desert to try and contact one of our investigators who we haven't been able to get a hold of in a long time.  We had tried before and the gate was always locked and no-one was ever outside.  So we said a prayer that we could actually find someone outside this time.  When we got there, no one was around, but right as we were about to leave, someone came out and we were able to get her attention.  So we finally were able to talk to them!  It seems kind of small and insignificant, but God definitely heard our prayers.  So that was super cool.

Let's see, what else?  Well church yesterday was pretty good.  We were counting on having 10 investigators at sacrament meeting, but only 2 showed up.  So that was a little disappointing.  Waiting for investigators to show up to sacrament meeting is easily the most stressful and agonizing thing about missionary work haha.  Not something I'll miss when I'm home haha. The affect it has on a persons spiritual progression is just huge!  There's such a big difference in their progression during the week when they come to church.  This week will be better though! 

Umm, oh I don't know if you guys know this or not.  But there is a cool tradition here in the Redlands CA mission for when a missionary goes home.  Each transfer there is a Departing Devotional for all the missionaries who are going home.  So the missionary get's to send out invitations to all the people he wants to come to the mission office for this devotional.  Each missionary is given like 5 minutes to bear their testimony and share an experience where they've felt the Lords hand in the work.  So it's pretty cool. You get to see all your favorite people one more time before you go home.  Well, today in the mail I got the "Trunky Papers" as they are referred to.  Basically just a bunch of invites to send out, and a preliminary itinerary for the trip home. Crazy stuff! But kind of exciting haha.  

Glad to hear everything is going well at home! Yeah I sent that package with Elder Darro a long time ago haha.  He tried to deliver it once a few weeks ago while you were all in Mississippi, but obviously, no one was home.  Glad you got it though!  The guy who gave it to you was Caleb Reber I would imagine.  He is a great guy. I knew him pretty well at school before the mission too.  There were actually quite a few people from PG that I went to school with out here.  It's pretty cool! 

Jim and Diane's new calling sounds awesome! 35 missions huh? That's pretty crazy. What day do they leave?  

And that's fun that all my friends were at the house haha. Can't wait to see them again! Glad they are doing well! And I'm glad to hear Grandpa T is doing lot's better!  

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you all! 
Love, Elder Wise

Monday, July 20, 2015

4 more...

I'm not counting down.  But there's only 4 weeks left?! That's crazy.  This last week was super good though!  As you know, we were in a trio for most of the week.  It turned out to be super helpful because we found out that there isn't going to be a replacement.  Elder Houskeeper and I are going to be taking over the entire ward now.  So it was good to have Elder Thornton show us around his area a little bit before he leaves.  He's getting shipped off to Redlands.  So now it's just me and Houskeeper running the place.  It's cool though because now a Senior couple is going to be covering both wards here in Yucca Valley.  So the other wards elders are moving in with us, and the senior couple is taking their apartment.  Fun stuff!

We had a pretty good day at church yesterday.  Sister Huffer came as well as a part member family we have been working with.  So that was pretty awesome.  We did have a couple baptisms scheduled for the 25, but they weren't able to happen.  Hopefully within the next few weeks though.  Frankie and Levi are doing well also.  They have some real intent which is pretty cool. And since the two areas are combining, this week we will start working with several more people.  It's pretty fun! We are always super busy.  This area has really grown a lot the last few weeks. 

Yesterday was kind of exciting too because we had a ton of rain!  It was really pouring hard.  There are lot's of roads that are pretty washed out now.  Dirt everywhere.  There were lot's of flash-flood warnings and stuff. It was super fun! I really love the desert haha. 

Glad to hear everything is going well back home! Sounds like you all have a fun week planned! Holy cow! I can't believe so many people are getting home haha.  So fun! Yeah Paxton got home a few weeks ago. Megan get's home on the 22. So in a couple days haha. And Skyler is close behind I think. If not already home. Idk. Fun stuff though! There's going to be a big old reunion haha. 

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

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, July 13, 2015

Crazy!

Well this week was pretty insane.  We were pretty busy.  Let's see, where to start?  The first couple days were a little bit rough, because all of our appointments were falling through.  But by the end of the week we were busy all the time.  We were able to pick up some new investigators!!  Dana, Frankie, Levi, and Nick.  Dana is the mom, Frankie and Levi are her sons, and Nick is a friend of the kids.  We met with them 3 times this week! At the end of the lesson they always say "Can you come back tomorrow?" haha.  They love learning about the gospel.  They don't have much religious background at all, and are really only familiar with Christ's name. So whenever we teach we have to really go back to the basics and teach them who Christ was, what he did, etc.  It's a good opportunity for Elder Houskeeper though since he's learning to.  So they are awesome.

Our other investigators are doing well too. We had a good lesson with Sister Huffer.  We are going to push her baptismal date back to August 8 though, cause there were a couple complications.  But everything should be alright.  We also found several pretty solid potentials this last week that hopefully we will be able to teach this week.  

I also got to go on a couple of exchanges this last week. One with Elder Webb, which was a great time, and one with an Elder Frost. He's a good guy. He came out at the same time as me.  So that was exciting.  

This next week should be pretty crazy too. One of my roommates, Elder Siddoway, is going home on Wednesday, so his companion is going to be with Elder Houskeeper and I for a week or so, until we find out transfers next week. So that'll be fun! I've never been in a trio before.  

Glad to hear that you all had a great time in Montana!! It sounds like so much fun!!  I can't wait to go back there sometime haha. Yeah I hope the boat is fixed by the end of summer!!!  That would be so bad if it wasn't, and I didn't have a way to go skiing.  I think that's priority 1 to make sure it's ready haha. 

Well, I hope you are all doing well!! Have a great week! The church is true :)

Love, Elder Wise

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Crazy Week!

Well, a pretty large chunk of time this week was spent inputting information into the iPads.  It was fun I guess haha. We still aren't done though! It takes a long time.  I imagine we will probably be doing this for another week or so.  It's nice to have all the info we could ever need, on hand all the time haha. It makes it really easy.  Not to mention that the ipad practically just tells us everything we need to do. It's pretty chill!

Let's see, this week we had some good lessons with Matthew and Sister Huffer.  We have hit a couple of set backs but I think everything should turn out alright.  This week we should be picking up a few new investigators which will be nice! We really need some more people to teach.  Our area is a little tough because no-one ever walks around outside, so we can't exactly walk around and try to talk to people. So we have to find people in different ways.  It's a good time. 

4th of July was fun! My last holiday in the mission field haha.  We had a few different dinners.  We also could see the fireworks really well from our front porch. So we watched for a second. From what I could tell, there were a lot less gunshots mixed in with the fireworks this year, compared to last year in Colton haha. So that was good. 

We are looking forward to this week! We already have a whole bunch of appointments set up over the next few days.  Hopefully there will be a lot to talk about next week! 

Glad to hear everything is going good! I'm so jealous that you are all in Montana.  Thank goodness the cousins took over and we are having another family reunion up there next year!  Can't wait! USA won the FIFA final!? Right on! That's so legit!  Funny that USA and Japan played again haha.  Glad USA won again!   And I'm glad Lucie enjoys it haha! We will definitely have to watch some time haha. 

And I'm glad to hear that the weather was horrible on the lake on Sunday haha. That doesn't happen too often! You are right, I would have been freezing at 70 degrees haha. It's kind of ridiculous. I'm going to freeze to death this winter. 

Well, I hope you all have a great week!! Have fun on the lake!! 

Love, Elder Wise

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Happy Lucie Day!

Well hello!  This week was pretty great! The iPads are pretty awesome. We had a really long zone conference on Thursday.  It went from like 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon.  It was a while.  The funny thing is that we didn't even get our ipads until 4 haha.  Most of the conference was reviewing the principles of planning and companion study and a bunch of other things.  It was really good!  And then we have spent the last couple days getting used to the ipads.  This next week will be spent inputting all the information from our area book into our ipads.  It's going to take hours. It's a pretty neat app the church made though! I like it!

And the temple trip a couple of weeks ago was super awesome!  I love the redlands temple haha.  It's been pretty hot here the last few days. Except some storm clouds have rolled in the last couple days.  They haven't done much to cool it off though cause now it's just 100 degrees and super humid.  I'll take dry 110 over humid 100 any day.  

The other good news is that the fire is pretty much out I think.  There are no longer giant billowing plumes of smoke filling the sky.  I can't even see the mountain smoking any more.  So that's nice.  Although last Thursday , they did evacuate one of the cities in our area.  I think they moved back though.  All is safe and sound. 
 

 
This week we had some good lessons with investigators as well!  We met with Sister Huffer a couple of times, as well as DeShawn a couple of times, and also a kid named Matthew.  And then Sister Huffer and Matthew were able to come to church.  That was pretty awesome!  Another thing that happened this Sunday was that I had to speak in sacrament meeting.  I was so close!!  I have never once spoken on my mission up until yesterday.  It was my best kept secret.  I knew the second I told someone that I had never spoken, they'd probably tell the bishop haha.  That didn't happen this time though. I think God knew I hadn't spoken and wanted to make sure I had the opportunity, so he sent my to Yucca Valley where he knew I'd get called on haha.  It turned out really well though.  Even though the AC in the chapel was broken and it was pretty hot haha.  

Sounds like everyone was having a good time in Utah this week! I'm glad Sadie liked EFY and Lucie liked Soccer camp! That's awesome!  It's always fun when people come to visit too.  And the Lucie day celebrations sound awesome!  That's a great holiday.  :)

And thanks for taking care of all my school stuff.  Glad to hear it's still on track haha.  

Well, I hope you all have a great week!! Stay out of the heat! :)

Love you all,
Elder Wise

Monday, June 22, 2015

Hot hot hot= Fire!

I don't know if you heard or not, but there is a huge fire down here!!  Currently it's pretty far away, but the sky has been full of smoke for days! One morning we went out to the truck and there was a layer of ash on the hood.  Like snow haha.  Crazy!  Don't worry though.  We are nice and safe.

This week was a pretty good one!  We picked up a new investigator named Raven.  She is super cool.  Her and her family live on a Pistachio nut farm way out in the middle of the desert haha.  She's super awesome! We had some other lessons this week too that were pretty good.  There were several days in a row though that NO ONE answered the door.  Just hours of trying to see people and nobody answering.  It was kinda rough.  This week should be way better though.  

This Thursday we have Zone Conferences.  Which means we are actually getting Ipads!!  Next Monday I'll be emailing from an Ipad :)  I can't believe its actually happening this time.  I don't think I'm going to believe it until it's in my hand haha.  

I'm glad to hear that you made it back to Utah safe!  It sounds like it was a fun trip!!  I'm glad grandpa is getting the stuff he needs.  

Sounds like some crazy stuff happening in the next couple weeks! It'll be fun to have everyone there haha.  

Well, I think that's about all the exciting stuff. Hope you have a great week! Love you all! Missionary work is the bomb. :)

Love, Elder Wise

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Yeee-haaa!!

I feel like I'm in a western movie.  Cacti, Joshua trees, coyotes, jack-rabbits, rattlesnakes, scorpions, and lots and lots of sand and dirt.  It's so legit!! Too bad I'm not riding a horse haha. Yucca Mesa ward is super cool though!  And our area is ginormous! I think the highlight for me is that we do a lot of off-roading too haha.  I would say probably 75% of our area is dirt roads.  Luckily we have a truck with 4-wheel drive haha.  We have a great time.  Don't worry, most of the time we don't need 4 wheel drive.  We have only had to use it once so far.  It's so fun!  I'll be sure to send some pics.

My companion is Elder Houskeeper.  He is from Centerville UT.  He seems to be adjusting to missionary life quite well!  He is allergic to Dairy, Beef, and all nuts.  Which makes dinner a little interesting sometimes haha.  And he likes to play basketball.  

So our area covers several cities.  We have a big chunk of Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and a city called Landers.  All very spread out.  The work seems to be going pretty well! The missionaries who were here before us were really good.  It was Elder Raff and Elder Berry.  Elder Berry finished his 2 years, and Elder Raff became the AP! But they left us a couple solid people.  One of them is on date for July 25.  Her name is Sister Huffer.  She is pretty cool!  So that is pretty sweet.  We spent the last couple of days just trying to get used to the area and introducing ourselves to people. It was great!   Our roommate's, Elder Siddoway and Elder Thornton, loaned us a GPS so we can get around.  The only problem is the GPS gets us lost more often than not haha. Luckily we have maps too. 

So yeah!  It was a pretty good week!  And this week we have a temple trip scheduled for Wednesday!  So that will be super fun too! 

Wow Hannah is going to Russia! That's awesome!! Good for her! And we will get to both speak on the same day? Right on!  That'll be sweet! 

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!!  Love you all!  The church is true.  

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, June 8, 2015

Hot hot hot

So.  The big news.  I'm getting transferred!  I'll be heading out to the desert again!  And I'll be training!  I'll be serving in the Yucca Mesa ward out in the 29 Palms area.  It's going to be like 120+ degrees.  And I'll be there for the hottest part of the summer!  Joy! But that's where I will be finishing my mission.  It'll be great!

And this week was pretty awesome!  Especially Tom's baptism!  I had this feeling the whole time like we were missing something, but we weren't.  The whole thing went as smooth as butter! It was really great. And Elder Chavez was able to come back and watch it.  So that was pretty cool. I'll try to send pics, but it might not work out because the computers are being really slow and horrible today. 

Let's see...all the investigators are doing pretty well.  We had a really good lesson with Paige on Saturday and we have another tonight.  So it will be pretty awesome.  I think she will be baptized sometime soon.  Elder Landgrave will keep working with her.  Kimberly is doing great too! We have a lesson with her tonight as well.  

I'm going to miss Yucaipa!  But I am excited to go back to the desert.  It should be pretty fun! Hopefully I will be returning here for some baptisms in the near future. :)

Glad to hear your summer vacation is going good so far!  Sounds like these next couple weeks are going to be pretty crazy! Be sure to drive safe this week!

Glad to hear the wedding went well too! Good for Jared! I wish I could've heard Kiley's song haha.  I bet it was super awesome.  

I hope you get to go boating today! That would be so cool!  I miss that sooooo much haha. 

Well, I hope you all have a great week!  Love you all! 

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, June 1, 2015

Great Week!

Well let's see... Last Wednesday we had another mission conference!  This one was pretty special though.  It was the iPad training conference! Elder Schwitzer of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy came, along with Brother Gonzalez from the Missionary Department, to train us on how to use iPads.  And we will be receiving our iPads in about 2 weeks when we have our Zone Conferences.  It's pretty cool!  We will be able to do a lot of stuff with them. Sadly, everyone going home before Nov 18 will not be able to keep their iPads though.  So I will only get to use a loaner for a few weeks.  Things like social media come later too.  They roll the iPads out in stages.  So chances are we will start using Facebook and Skype and stuff, a week or so before I come home haha.  Too bad.  It'll be cool though!  And we won't get iPhones or anything.  It's cool though. Picture this:  I have an investigator that I am teaching through skype.  He/she needs more fellowshippers and help.  So on the next Skype call with that investigator, YOU join us over skype and help me teach!  And you can be his/her fellowshipper too!  That is something that could actually happen in a couple months.  Crazy!!

Tom is still doing really well too! He had his interview last week and he is ready to go! He is super excited for Saturday!  And Kimberly is doing really well too! Her daughter is progressing a little slower and probably won't be baptized on the 13th with her mom, but I think she will still be baptized.  We are focusing a little more on Kimberly though at the moment.  

The other super cool thing that happened this week was on Saturday.  We were walking down the road and this girl who was out jogging ran past us. Well, like 10 minutes later she came running up behind us again and asked if we were Mormons.  She then asked us if we could teach her everything about Mormons haha.  So we walked up the road with her to her house and taught her the first two discussions, and answered tons of questions. Her name is Paige!  She is super nice. And we have another lesson with her tonight! So that was pretty cool.  

And let's see.... Oh I was sad to hear about Elder Perry. He was one of my favorites.  This week is the last week of transfers as well. So next Monday I will know if I'm staying or leaving.  Crazy! 

It's so crazy that school is already out! And even crazier to think I'll be home before it starts again haha.  I'll definitely be praying for grandpa though!  That's a long drive out there! 

Well, I hope you all have a great week! Love you!

Love, Elder Wise

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Woohoo!

Well this last week was pretty awesome!! We had a great lesson with Kimberly and her daughter Tara and they are both on date for June 13!  And Tom is still on track to be baptized on the 6th.  He will be having his interview this week!  He is soooo awesome!  He's been going around to all of his neighbors and praying with them, and sharing the gospel.  He is the best! Haha

On Saturday we had a ward party.  We were the ones who kind of organized the whole thing.  Along with Brother Otis, the WML, and it went really really well!  We watched Meet The Mormons in the cultural hall, and had cotton candy and popcorn machines going.  People brought things to share as well, and it turned out great!  We probably had 60 or so people there, as well as the Katomski's, Tom, and a couple other non-members!  It was awesome!  (We definitely need to invest in a cotton candy machine, just saying)  

And for Memorial day we ended up taking a hike up to a waterfall which was pretty fun.  An RM who just returned took us.  Wyatt Massey is his name. He's super cool.  It was a lot of fun! I'll try to send some pics home.  And after the hike we ate dinner with the Bogh's.  The people who let us skype for mothers day.  We had delicious homemade burgers and stuff. Yummy! 

SO yeah, I think that's the main highlights of the week.  Sorry I don't have much time to email today.  I'll try to send some pics.  

Love you guys!! Have a great week!  

Love, Elder Wise
The waterfall-Forest Falls

And this rolled in while we were getting lunch today at taco bell!  Yucaipa is so fun

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Hey hey hey!

Well this week was pretty great!  We had a lot of good stuff happen.  Let's start with Tom Yun.  He was sick for a large portion of the week but we were finally able to meet with him on Saturday.  The plan was teach him about the Word of Wisdom.  So we go and we teach him about it. When we got to the part about not drinking Coffee or Tea, he started freaking out a little bit. "No tea?!? No Coffee?!?  That's like all I drink"  So we tried to calm him down a little bit when he said "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?!  I would've quit drinking it weeks ago!"  Haha we were so happy!  But he was really quite mad that we hadn't told him earlier.  So now all he drinks is herbal tea, and hot chocolate.  It went well!!

The other good news of the week is that Kimberly is back!  Remember her?  It was always just super hard to meet with her.  But she had an appointment with the bishop, and she told him that she has been praying about it a lot and would really like to be baptized!!  And she also told her mom that.  So we have an appointment with her tonight.  It's going to be great!   

We also got several referrals this week which was nice.  None of them have really panned out yet, but that's ok.  

Well, I think that's all the main news of the week.  Oh wait.  Brother Katomski went into the hospital on Friday and it turns out that he had appendicitis!  So he got his appendix removed on Saturday.  That was kind of exciting.  

Ok, now I think that's all the exciting stuff.  I'm glad to hear that you all had a pretty good week!  It's been raining here in Cali too!  It's been nice.  I'm sorry to hear about grandma walker though.  She was so nice.  

I think being an assistant coach would be pretty cool! That sounds fun! 

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!! Love you guys! 

Love, Elder Wise :)

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Pretty good week!!

Well it was so great to be able to see you guys yesterday!!! Skyping is so fun!

Let's see, this week was pretty good!  We were able to see Tom quite a few times which was good. He is progressing really well! He came to church and enjoyed it.  We will be teaching him the word of wisdom this week.  He does smoke but he says he's already been trying to quite, just for health reasons, so now that he has the Book of Mormon, he'll be fine! The Katomski's are doing ok, but man...agency is so frustrating.  

We were also able to see Roger a couple times this week. He's doing pretty good!  We read from the book of mormon with him.  We also made a new friend who's name is Chip!  He is a gopher that lives in Roger's front yard.  He is a very brave gopher.  We can feed him and Elder Landgrave even petted him once! Don't worry, we make sure he doesn't bite us.  Wouldn't want to get rabies or something haha.  

But anyways, I think that's about it for the update this week.  I hope you all have a fantabulous week!!  The church is true :)

Love, Elder Wise

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Hello!!!

Hey hey!! Well this week was pretty good!  It was sad to say goodbye to Elder Chavez but Elder Landgrave is pretty great.  He is from St Louis Missouri.  He's the youngest of 6 kids (by 9 years), and he is actually from the same stake as Elder Stafford which is kind of cool.  And he loves biking.  So he's kind of sad it's a car area haha.  And he's super funny!  We have a good time. 

So on Monday we had a good lesson with Carmen Mueller (who is the mom) but she isn't really interested in learning more about the church. She still wants her kids to go to YW and stuff though so we might be able to still teach her kids.  Hopefully!   And then Chavez left on Wednesday.  We had a great lesson with Tom Yun on thursday, and he's on date to be baptized on June 6!  And he is pretty excited about it! He is awesome.  And the Katomski's are doing alright.  The two daughters don't really want to learn about it anymore and they won't be getting baptized anymore, at least not anytime soon.  There is still hope for the mom and dad though! We will see.  

Well it sounds like you all had a pretty good week!  Congrats Lars on the mission call!!  That's so awesome!  I have some friends in that mission I think.  It sounds like your week will be pretty insane! Fun though!  I can't wait to talk to you on Sunday!  We will probably do it sunday afternoon sometime.  We are still trying to find a place to do it.  I don't think it will be a problem though.  Our church get's out at 2 so it will be sometime between 2 and 5.  

Well, I think that's about it.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!!  Love you all!  See you on sunday :)

Love, Elder Wise 

Monday, April 27, 2015

Suspense...

Alright here it goes.  Wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.......  Elder Chavez is being transferred to Fontana to be with Elder Stafford, and I'll be staying here in Yucaipa!!  My new companion is Elder Landgrave.  He's a cool guy.  I haven't served around him before, but I've heard a lot about him.  So it'll be a good transfer I'm sure.

This last week was pretty good!  We found a few investigators which was really nice!!  One of them is named Tom Yun.  He's South Korean!  He just showed up at our scripture study class on Wednesday, and then we started teaching him!  So that was pretty cool.  He's 75 and super funny.  We gave him a Korean Book of Mormon and he loves it!  He has already read quite a bit.  And he came to church!  We also picked up a lady named Danielle and her brother Erik.  They are the brother and sister of a member in the ward.  We had a good lesson with them and they even invited us to come back.  So we will be seeing them again this week.  And tonight we have an appointment set up to meet with the Mueller family, who are the neighbors of one of the members.  The members have been working with the Muellers for quite a while, and now they are ready for missionaries!  So we will be picking them up as investigators tonight.  It's a mom, 2 daughters, and a son.  The husband works a lot and probably won't be there.  We are excited though! 

So yeah that's about the update for this week!  I'm glad you all had a good week!  Wow, that Hades thing looked awesome!! Way to go Sadie!!  And Congratulations Lucie on your math stuff!! That's so awesome!!  You're going to be smarter than I am.  Grandpa T and Grandpa Wise need to be careful!  They need to be around for a long time still.  And that's great about Brody! Tell him I say congrats!  

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!! The church is true! :)

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, April 20, 2015

Hello!

Well this last week was pretty good.  Not a whole lot happened.  The Katomski's were pretty busy this week so we didn't really get to meet with them a whole lot.  They are still doing well though, and progressing.  Which is good!   We didn't pick up any new investigators this week, but we have some really good solid potentials for the next couple days which is nice.  So we are looking forward to this week!

Yesterday we had a missionary fireside for the ward.  President Van Cott came and spoke at it.  It was really good!  Mostly just talking about member missionary work.  Elder Chavez and I missed most of it because of other appointments, but we did catch the end, and then had some great dessert!  So that was pretty cool.  

This is the last week of the transfer, so I will know next monday whether I am staying in Yucaipa for another 6 weeks or not.  I guess we will see!  I really have no guess as to whether or not I'll be staying or going.  Anything could happen.

Let's see...yeah I think that's about it.  Glad everything is going well at home though!  I can't wait to see where Lars will be going! That's so exciting! Tell Aunt Susan hi for me. And I will definitely read that talk by Pres. Benson!  It sounds really good! 
Riley is getting married? Good for him!  Yeah I know Shani.  At least I think I do. And Jared is getting married too? That's awesome!  No, I don't think I ever met Alyssa.  That's awesome!   Haha and I would love to help Lucie with her soccer when I get home! That would be super fun! 

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week!!  Missionary work is the greatest :) 

Love Elder Wise 

Monday, April 13, 2015

WooHoo!

Well this week was pretty awesome!! We had a lot of good lessons and saw quite a few people.  The highlight of the week though was on Friday.  I went on exchanges with Elder Morris, who is waiting for his visa to Brazil and has been out for like 4 weeks, and we had an incredible lesson with the Katomski's!  It was so good!  And they committed to be baptized on May 30!!!!  We are so stoked!! We have a lot to do to make sure they are ready by then, but I know they will make it!  So keep them in your prayers! It's taken a long time for them to get to this point.  When they get baptized, there will be a lot of elders there haha. It'll be like a little missionary reunion.

That's really the most exciting thing that happened this week though.  We've been really trying hard to find new investigators and stuff, but so far we have been unsuccessful.  However, this week we should be picking up some new investigators!!  A couple of the families in the ward have been fellowshipping a family, and it sounds like they are ready for the missionaries!  Hopefully we will be able to meet them tonight.  

Sounds like you had a great week though!  Going to Capitol Reef sounds like a great time!  I loved the pics dad sent! And hanging out with all the cousins and aunts and uncles sounds super fun haha. Crazy though. I bet the house was packed! 

And I'm glad Sadie made it home from the Draper temple safe!  Sounds like that was quite the adventure! 

Well, I hope you all have an incredible week!  Love you guys!  :)

Love, Elder Wise

P.S.  The church is true

Monday, April 6, 2015

WOW!

Well I just love conference.  It was sooooo good!!  I couldn't even tell you which talk was my favorite.  They were all just too good.  I really liked Pres. Uchtdorf's talk Sunday morning though.  And Elder Ballard's at Priesthood session.  And the list goes on haha.

It was a pretty good week over all.  We were able to get quite a bit of stuff done.  Our investigators are doing really well!  Although we have kind of lost track of Amber, for some personal reasons.  She should be back soon though.  She's going to call us.  The Katomski's are doing great as well.  Hailie and Becca were able to make it to conference and I think they enjoyed it!  

Easter was pretty good!  The package came!  Thanks so much! Delicious!  And we went over to the Massey's house for Easter dinner.  It was a party.  Lots of people over there haha.  Including the Katomski's which was cool.  And yeah, that's really about it.  It was a good week.

Congrats on winning Sadie!!  I knew you'd make it!  And having everyone over for Conference sounds like a lot of fun!  16 people huh?  Wow that's a lot!  I was really missing those spudnuts.  I'll be pigging out next conference for sure haha.  Anika and Will are having a boy?  Congrats!!  That's so fun! 

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!! Love you all! :)

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, March 30, 2015

What a Week!

Well this last week was just jam-packed.  Let's see.  Well, we had a lot of great stuff happen with our investigators!  We had some great lessons and 4 of them came to church!  We had Amber, and 3 of the Katomski family come which was so awesome!  And it was a really good meeting too.  It was a homecoming for an Elder who served in Atlanta Georgia. He's super cool and an amazing speaker/teacher.  He's come out to lessons with us several times.  So that was pretty great!

Everyone is still progressing towards their date though.  Although we will have to push Roger's back a bit because he couldn't make it to church. Darn Satan.  But we will keep on trying! And we will hopefully be putting a few more people on date this week which would be amazing!  I'll let you know how it goes.  

On Wednesday we had our first Scripture Study Class Yucaipa style.  It's a little different from the ones we did in Colton.  We only have a short lesson, and then there are games and refreshments!  It was a big hit!  We had over a dozen people come and it sounds like there will be even more there this week! 

We also had another Mission Conference this last weekend!  Elder Brent H. Nielson of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  He had like 3 extra hours here in California so he called up President Van Cott and asked if he could speak to the mission.  It was really great!  That makes 6 general authorities that have visited our mission and talked to us in the last 18 months! We are so blessed!  And to make it even cooler, Elder Nielson will be speaking in conference this weekend on Sunday. So watch for him! I got to shake his hand.  

The church came out with their new initiative this last week too!  The #BecauseHeLives initiative.  So we got lot's of fancy pass-along cards to hand out.  Check out the video and share it online!  It's on HeLives.mormon.org.  It's super cool!  And if you get on YouTube's main page Sunday morning, you'll see the big add that the church bought out haha.  It's great! 

I'm glad to hear you all had a pretty good week!  Good luck on StuCo stuff Sadie!  I loved the posters! And I'm glad to hear you don't have to have surgery mom!  That's always nice.  I'm sure Lucie is thrilled!  

Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!  This is a great work to be involved in.  And it's so fun!  So many great people :)

Love, Elder Wise

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Hey!

Well this week was pretty great.  We didn't have a whole lot of appointments though because everyone decided to cancel.  But the ones that didn't cancel were great!  In fact, we were able to put Roger on date for April 18!  It's going to be so awesome!  And Amber is still doing really well and progressing towards her date.  So the work is going great!  The ward is really getting excited about missionary work too!  A couple of weeks ago when Elder Packer came, he invited everyone to do three things: 1) Pray in every single prayer for a missionary opportunity for themselves. 2) Be nice to everyone.  3) Don't have a conversation with someone without letting them know that you are a member of the church.  So lately, when we go to member's homes, we have been re-inviting them to do number 1.  And it has been so awesome!  Every single week we hear new stories about how they actually prayed, and God answered within just a few days or hours.  It's great.  So everyone is getting really excited about it.  I think the work around here is going to explode pretty soon!

And so  yeah, that was our week!  It was pretty good.  I'm glad to hear your week was pretty great!  Sounds like a lot of fun!  I love the new campaign signs you made!  I think my favorites are the spider-man one and the Ironman one.  So funny! And I'm glad to hear that Chuzi had a great time! haha It sounds like it was a lot of fun!  And that's great she was able to convince Leo to go too haha.  It'll be a party for sure! 

Well, I hope all goes well this week! 
Have a great week!  Love you all! 

Love, Elder Wise :)

Monday, March 16, 2015

Transfers...

Wait for iiiiiiiiit.... I'm staying.  Big surprise haha.  We are both staying here in Yucaipa for another 6 weeks.  We figured we probably would.  We had a great week this week though!  Got a whole lot of stuff done. Let's see, well Amber came to church which was awesome!  She's progressing really well!  Hopefully we will be able to start meeting with her a couple of times a week though so that we can teach her everything she needs to know before april 11.  Otherwise we might have to push it back a little bit.  Right now we only see her once a week.  She's doing really great though.  The Katomski's are doing great as well.  We are still working on trying to get them to come to church with us.  I think we are making some progress though!  We have an FHE set up with them for next Monday at the Stake Presidents house.  So it's going to be great! But yeah, that's kind of the highlights for the week!

Congrats Britta and James!!  He is so cute!  I can't wait to meet him someday haha :)  And Pi day sounds super fun!  I didn't realize it was such an epic one!  3.141592653  haha that's bomb. Luckily, the member we ate dinner with that night remembered that it was Pi day and got us some pie! It was delicious! 

I'm glad to hear Chuzi made it to town safe and sound haha!  I hope she has a great time! :)

Yeah I don't think I have ever witnessed a convert baptism in that ward haha.  That's great that it went so well!  And I can't believe Chris is home?!  That's awesome!  I bet Madi freaked out haha.  Tell him I said hey! 

Wow Conference is going to be so fun!  That's so many people! GC is the best.  It's like the Super Bowl for missionaries.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Our mission president put out a challenge a couple months ago for whoever wanted to do it.  The challenge was to read the whole book of mormon before conference.  I'm almost done!  It's such a great book! 

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Love you all! 

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, March 9, 2015

WooHoo!

Man this week was pretty crazy.  Let's see, where to start.  Well, we had Stake Conference this week!  Elder Packer (President Packer's nephew) came and spoke to the stake.  He is amazing!  It was an incredible conference!  It was held at the Redlands stake center which is a lot bigger than the Yucaipa one.  And it happens to be literally right next door to the Temple.

So our Stake President and his wife are the main fellowshippers that we have for the Katomski family, who have been meeting with missionaries for years.  So we usually have them call and invite the Katomski's to church or whatever.  Well, we knew that Elder Packer was going to be staying at the Stake Presidents house while he was in town, so we figured it would be a great opportunity to go over and ask him to call our investigators and invite the Katomski's to stake conference!  A personal invitation from a member of the Seventy would totally guarantee their attendance! So we went over there Friday night, and sadly Elder Packer wasn't going to arrive in Yucaipa until the following morning, but we asked Pres. Cartozian if he would be willing to call the Katomski's at least, which he agreed to do.  But then as we were leaving he said that IF they had time the next morning, he would take Elder Packer by and personally invite them!  Well we prayed very very hard that they would have enough time.  And they did!  We were doing some service for the Katomski's Saturday morning, when they pulled up in front of the house!  I couldn't believe it had actually happened!  So Elder Packer and Pres. Cartozian had a nice little convo with them, and invited them to conference.  And the Katomski's were super stoked about it!  Especially since after the Conference, the Temple grounds would be open and people could walk around and take pictures and stuff.  So that was super cool.  And then Satan attacked Saturday night and Brother Katomski ended up going to the ER and Sister Katomski had to work Sunday morning, and they slept in too late to get ready in time, and they didn't make it.  Luckily though, Sister Katomski was able to get off work in time to meet us right after the conference ended and take the temple tour which she really enjoyed.  

The other awesome thing that happened was that we found a new investigator, well actually a former, she was taught a few years ago, and she wants to be baptized!!  We have the date set for April 11.  But it's possible that we could move it up a little bit if she is able to come to church and everything runs smoothly.  Her name is Amber.  She is amazing! 

 And those were the highlights of the week!  It was pretty awesome.  We had a very good week.  We stopped by Joanie's house a couple of times, but she wasn't home.  I will give her a call this week and try to set something up.  It's nice because we have to drive right past her house as we drive from our homeshare to our area.  So it's very convenient! 

Yeah the package was great!  I was able to wear the sweaters a couple times before it got hot again haha.  There is a senior couple in our ward who work in the mission office, so when they saw the package come in on Wednesday, they just grabbed it on their way home and hand delivered it!  They are so nice!  

Glad everything is going well back home!  Good luck during campaigns Sadie!  It sounds like your posters will be pretty legit!  And I can't believe Chris is coming home!  That's so cool!    And Emily is going to Korea? Dang that's so cool!  She will love it.  

So Chuzi will be there next Monday?  That will be super fun!  Yeah she has 3 younger brothers.  The oldest is pretty interested in the church, but is insanely busy with work and school so we never really got to talk to him.  And the middle one is semi interested, and the youngest isn't really interested at all.  But he comes to stuff with the rest of his fam.  They are all super cool though! 

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week!  The church is true.  Missionary work is bomb.  

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, March 2, 2015

Brrrrrr...

It's so cold!!!!!  Well, not really.  It's only like 50 degrees.  But I am FREEZING!  Haha it's all good though. I've got my sweater.  It keeps me warm.  Well this last week was pretty good!  There really isn't much to report though.  We are just clicking along.  Trying to find more people to teach.  We received a few referrals last week though and it looks like a couple of them are pretty promising! So that will be our focus this week.  Our investigators are doing pretty well though.  They still haven't come to church yet, which is a problem.  They won't ever progress until they come to church.  So that's what we have been working on with them. Mainly we are working with the Katomski family, Guy Manasuk, Roger Haller, and hopefully we will be able to start working with Kimberly. We still haven't been able to meet with her yet because of a whole lot of different reasons.  But hopefully this week!

I haven't been to see Joanie yet, but we will definitely swing by this week!  

Oh oh oh!  The best news of all!  It is official.  This isn't a false alarm.  It is actually going to happen.  We are getting iPads!!!  They will be here on May 15.  When they get here we will also get to start using Facebook!  It's going to be great haha.  I will probably have more information on it all next week though.  Hopefully anyway! 

Well it sounds like everything is going well back home!  Wow!  Bishops Story is incredible!  I'm going to copy and paste so all my friends can read it haha.  
 "He was telling about an experience he had as a missionary in Australia.  He said that many of his companions didn't like him very much because he was very much a "letter of the law" kind of missionary.  If the handbook said to be out doing missionary work until 9:00 than that is what he was going to do!  So one night they had finished their appointments a little early.  It was like 8:45ish and his companion just wanted to go home.  But he wouldn't let him.  He said they needed to be working until 9.  So they found a cul-de-sac that they decided to tract out.  The end of the cul-de-sac was at the top of a hill.  And there was a huge party going on.  So, they were fearless and decided to go talk to them.  Well. they obviously weren't interested.  So they knocked on a few more doors with no success and were back down at the opening of the cul-de-sac with five minutes left before 9.  So the Bishop pulled out his planner and was trying to decide what to do with the five extra minutes.  His companion was very frustrated.  Then all of a sudden he heard a gunshot and found himself flat on the ground!  He had been shot in the back by one of the party goers at the end of the cul-de-sac!!  Can you believe that?  The chapel was completely silent as he told this story.  No one had ever heard it before!  Turns out that the bullet penetrated his suit jacket and his white shirt, but stopped there.  It didn't leave a hole in his under garments or hurt him at all.  He shared his testimony about obedience and the protection it provides.  It was awesome!" 

That is such a cool story Sade!  That's so great that you were able to be a great influence in another person's life!  It is the best feeling! 

Well, I hope you all have a great week!  I love you all!  

Love, Elder Wise 

Monday, February 23, 2015

Half Way


Man, this transfer is already half way over!  Time just flies by too quickly.  Well this week was pretty good.  A little bit on the slow side, but we did get a lot of good work done.  We had Zone Conference this week.  President Van Cott trained us on extending commitments and promising blessings.  It was really good!  There were a lot of good things that he talked about.  One of the things I liked the most was that as we teach, we should really focus on the blessings of the commandment we are teaching.  Teach the doctrine simply and clearly, then state your authority and promise blessings.  People are a lot more willing to do things, if they realize the blessings that will come from it.  It kind of blows my mind to think about the fact that if I promise someone specific blessings, as a representative of Jesus Christ, then God will make it happen! That's a lot of responsibility on our part.   And it's not me telling God what to do, it's the Spirit directing me to promise someone the blessings that God already want's to give them.  Pretty cool!

But yeah, that about covers it.  All our investigators are doing pretty well.  We are still working on finding new people to teach, but we have some good potentials lined up to try to contact this week.  So it's going to be good.  

I'm glad to hear everything is going well back home!  Haha yeah the U is definitely full of hippies.  I'm glad the film festival was fun though!  And Radical Reels will be awesome! I'm jealous.  

Yes there is a 7-11 in Yucaipa!  a couple of them actually haha.  I will have the ZLs pick it up from the office.  No problem!  Thanks so much!  

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Love you all!

Love, Elder Wise

Didn't think I'd find one of these anywhere.  I found it on exchanges is Banning.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Great Week!!

Well, this last week was pretty awesome!  We got a lot of stuff done, but the highlight of the week was my trip back to Colton!!  Lazarus and Gloria got baptized on saturday!  It was so awesome!  And it was a very spiritual service.  I'll send some pics.

Yucaipa is still pretty slow on the investigator side of things, but we are working on finding some more.  We have a pretty good potential that we are meeting with this week.  A lady in the ward who has been less active, but has been coming back in the last year or so, has a daughter who has been coming to church for the last few months, and we decided to ask her if she wanted to hear the lessons and stuff, and she said yes!  She seems really solid.  Her name is Kimberly.  So we will see how that goes this week.  

One of the things we do as missionaries is we visit with the members, and help them make lists of all the people they know who are non-members.  Once the member has a list of people, then we help them come up with things to do to help each person progress. The list really just helps them remember who it is they are working with.  And it works really well!  We went over to the Ward Mission Leaders house the other day and went through his list, and he saw a name on there and it reminded him that he had been prompted to give the guy a book of mormon like 6 months ago, but he had never done it.  Well, since the list reminded him, he gave him the book of mormon the next day!  And it went super well!  There has been a whole bunch of experiences like that.  The members want to do missionary work, but they forget.  So the list really helps them remember, and then we help them come up with simple, non-pushy things they can do to share the gospel with their friends!  It's great!  So I'm hoping it will pay off pretty soon, and we will end up getting a referral from someone.  It's only a matter of time.  

So yeah, that's about it for my week.  Sounds like you all had a good week back home though!  Chinese New Year is always a good time!   And I love Lucie's Ferb box for valentines haha!  That's awesome! 

Well, I hope you all have a really great week!!  

Love, Elder Wise
Baby Natalia

Carlos and Grace made it to the baptism!

The Sardar Family

Mi compadre Elder Chavez

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Yucaipa Take 2

Man, Yucaipa is a great place.  It's kind of strange to walk around and not see homeless people everywhere.  And I've only smelled marijuana once! It's crazy.  I do miss the chaos of Colton though.  And the amount of work out there.  Yucaipa is a little slow.  We are working hard on trying to find more people to teach.  The problem is there are no public places in our ward boundaries.  There is only one gas station.  So the only way you can find people to talk to is by knocking on their door.  Which just isn't effective. So we are really working with the members to find people to teach.  In the last 14 months since I've been gone, the ward has really progressed though.  The members are really starting to get out and talk with people.  It's a slow process.  A lot of people remember me though! I had quite a warm welcome back at church yesterday haha.  It's been pretty fun.

Sadly, David's baptism last week had to be postponed a bit longer.  There were some complications.  Hopefully some day in the future!  The Sardar's baptism is still good to go for this week though!  So I will get to go back to Colton on Saturday.  I can't even wait!!  And Grace and Carlos had their baby!  Natalia Toral officially entered the world last Thursday night around 11 ish.  I missed it by just 2 days!  Hopefully they will be at the baptism on Saturday though and I will get to meet the baby.  That would be awesome.  

My new companion is Elder Chavez.  He's 18, and from Plano Texas, which is by Dallas.  He loves to play soccer.  We get along really well.  It's a great time! He's been out for 6 months.  

Well, that's about all I have to report!  I'm glad that everything is going well back home!  I can't believe it's been so warm haha!  That's crazy!  

And Happy Anniversary!  22 years is a long time haha.  Congrats!  

Also, I did get the package.  The cinnamon rolls were amazing!!  They are already gone.  I ate them all.  They didn't even taste over cooked or anything! 

You are going to Montana?  I am so jealous.  Not of your leg surgery though haha.  I miss Montana.  

Well, I hope you all have a great week!!  I love you all!

Love, Elder Wise

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

You Won't Believe This

Wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiit....I'm getting transferred!!  That's the believable part haha.  The unbelievable part is this:  My new area is the Yucaipa 4th ward!!  Haha I'm going back to where I started!! It's going to be awesome!  It's great too because my new companion, Elder Chavez, and I will be the only missionaries in the ward, and we have a car, and we are white-washing in!  It's going to be great!  Sadly, we won't be in the same homeshare I was in before though.  We will be living at a different members house.  It's going to be so bomb though.  I'm stoked.  It's kind of strange being transferred back to an area where you already know everyone and where everything is!  It's great.  I won't be a zone leader any more though.  They are switching me to district leader.  So I won't be at the leadership meeting on Thursday.  I could probably have my zone leaders pick it up though and bring it straight to me.  They will have to drive through my area on their way home to their area.

The other big news is that the baptism went great!!  I'll be sending some pics.  Everything went smooth as butter.  I baptized, and Elder Cook confirmed the next day.  He did really well for his first time!  



And we have everything just about set up for David's baptism this coming Saturday.  I've got to start working out how I'm going to come back though.  David asked me to baptize him as well!  So that will be super fun.  And the week after that, Gloria and Lazarus and Kimberly Galvez will be baptized.  Gloria and Lazarus had their interviews yesterday and passed!  So as long as they can go without tea, they are good to go for the 14!  It's so awesome! 

Mainly, the whole week was just spent getting everything ready for the baptism. Nothing really super exciting happened.  I'm glad to hear everything is going well back home!  I'll definitely keep praying for grandma and grandpa.  Way to go on your swim meet Sadie!  That's awesome!  And Happy Birthday mom!!  Sorry I forgot to put that in my letter last week.  I remembered in the middle of the week.  I'm glad you had a great party haha :)

Well, today is pretty crazy. I've got a lot of packing to do, and lot's of people to call and say goodbye too.  I sent a big package home full of stuff I don't need.  It should get there on Thursday.  Thanks for everything!!! Have a great week!!

Love, Elder Wise

P.S.  Missionary work is great :)

Monday, January 26, 2015

Boy oh Boy!

Well this last week was pretty fantastic!  We met with the Sardars every day this week and they are doing wonderful!!  All of them are going to be baptized, but probably at different times haha.  The daughter, Chuzi, is getting baptized this Saturday, January 31!!  And the mom and dad are probably going to be baptized either Feb 7 or Feb 14.  So that's awesome!

Our other investigators are doing great as well!  We currently have 11 on date to be baptized.  The ones coming up the soonest are David Toral: Feb 7, and Kimberly Galvez: Feb 14.  It's awesome! 

I got to go on exchanges with Elder Miller this week.  He is a super cool guy. He's from Utah, go figure, and he serves in one of the spanish wards here in my zone.  It was funny because so far on his mission, he's never been subject to a language barrier.  Since he speaks fluent spanish, he can pretty much always talk to everyone.  But when we got to the Sardars and we were speaking Urdu, he had no idea what was going on haha.  I'm actually starting to get pretty good.  I can speak quite a bit now. It was cool too because we got a referral the other day for a man named Masih, who requested an Urdu Book of Mormon.  So Elder Miller and I went to deliver the book, and he was outside, and so I got to speak to him in Urdu for a minute, and Masih was blown away haha.  I think the last think he expected was to see two white guys jump out of a truck and greet him in his own language.  It was so fun! 

Well, that's kind of all I have to report.  Stay tuned next week for pictures of the baptism!  As well as Transfer info!  This could potentially be my last week in Colton!  That would be sad. Especially with all the baptisms coming up.  But, the Lord knows best.  Have a great week! Love you!

Love, Elder Wise

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Hey Hey Hey

Well this week was pretty good.  Let's see.  Well, the Sardar's are doing great!  There was a baptism this week that they were able to go and watch, sadly it was in Spanish and they didn't understand a word, but they enjoyed it.  There are some English ones this week though that they will be able to go to.  After the baptism, the member who drove them, took them to Redlands to see the Temple.  And it has made a huge difference!!  Especially with Gloria (the mom) and Chuzi (her real name is Palwasha - and she's the daughter).  Up until now they have wanted to be baptized, but they wanted to wait awhile.  But now they are a lot more on board and we are shooting for Jan 31.  We have a lesson with them tonight and we will hopefully set that date with them.  Lazarus will still wait a bit because he is still trying to give up drinking tea.  They are the best though.  I love that family so much!  And the best part is that two of the kids will be going to the U in August!  So we will get to hang out after the mission.

All of our other investigators are doing pretty well.  Although we haven't seen Sister Armstrong in like 3 weeks.  She has vanished off the face of the earth.  I miss that lady!  The main struggle we have is getting people to come to church.  They commit to come, we make sure to remind them and get everything set up for them, and then they don't show up.  It's very frustrating.  But, we will get them this week for sure.  

And we got to go to the Temple on Wednesday which was awesome!  It was great to go back finally.  I probably won't get to go again until right before I leave, for my departing temple trip.  It'll be nice to be back in Utah where I can go whenever I want to haha.  

Since yesterday was a holiday we had lot's of free time since we didn't have to email or anything, so we went over to the Sardars and played Apples to Apples with them.  It was a good time!  

Lazarus, Chuzi, and Logan



Do you remember a long time ago how I used to complain about my back hurting while I slept?  It's been that way for a looooong time.  Well, I think it's fixed now.  Let me tell you why.  Nearly two years ago, when Elder Seright was being trained, he baptized a man named Jesse Tung, who is from Taiwan.  Jesse is an acupuncturist.  He's had his practice going for many years and he's helped lot's of missionaries the last couple of years since he got baptized.  Well I met him on exchanges several weeks ago and somehow it came up that my back hurt, and he offered to help.  So that's what we did yesterday.  It turns out that the muscles in my back are just super tight all the time.  So he did his thing and stuck me full of needles and such.  It was great!  He also does cupping, which he also did for me!  Remember that lady in our group in China?  How she had big purple spots all over her back?  Now I have spots too haha!  I'll send a picture.  It was marvelous though. I slept really well last night.  

Well, I think that about covers it for the week!  I'm sorry to hear you guys were sick!  That is no fun.  I've been feeling a little under the weather myself.  

Well, I hope you all have a great week!!  Love you all!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Oh boy.

Well, another week has come and gone.  It was a pretty good one!  I had to do Zone Meeting on Tuesday and it actually went really well!  I was slightly nervous because I was all by myself, but it was good.  There was lot's of good participation from the Zone.

I also got to go on exchanges this week with a guy named Elder Hunter!  He is a lot of fun!  He plays college football and when he gets home he'll be playing for Utah State.  He's huge.  It was really fun to get to go with him though cause a long long time ago (when I was in Palm Desert) he was there too! And I had gotten to go on exchanges with his companion, but not him.  But now I got to!  So it was good fun. 

The rest of the week was pretty good.  We taught quite a few lessons and even picked up a new investigator named Miguel.  He seems super solid too!  His mom and brother are LDS so he knew about the church already.  Hopefully we will be able to start teaching his wife too!  It's going to be great.  The Sardars are doing really well.  They are making good progress toward baptism.  So are the Shads.  The last couple weeks we haven't been able to see Sister Armstrong because she has been sick and out of town, but she's back now so hopefully she will be able to start progressing again.  David is doing well also, but his life is pretty crazy and we have a hard time meeting with him sometimes.  And Jesus, Maria, and Angie are doing really well, but we weren't able at meet with them yesterday because they were so busy.  So hopefully we will see them soon!

Alright, this paragraph is going to be a little trunky.  Since I'm going to have to be coming home a little early for school, I talked to President about it and he has it worked out now.  So that means I now officially have a going home date!  August 17, 2015.  It's so sad.  That's so soon haha.  But it had to happen I guess.  It'll be a few more months until the office starts arranging things for flights and stuff (probably the end of May), but there you go.  Crazy! Just a mere 7 months away.  
Ok, off of Trunky stuff.  This week is pretty exciting!  We get to go to the Temple on Wednesday!!  It's going to be awesome!  I haven't gone in an entire year.  Waaaaay too long.  Although, as President says "We are here to do the work for the Living, not for the Dead."  So that's ok.  But it's going to be awesome! As a result of that however, our P-Day is shortened.  So today P-Day ends at 3 instead of the normal 6.  Which is cool.  

Anyways, I think that's about everything for this week.  I'm sorry to hear that everyone has been sick though!  That's no fun.  

Momentum opened in Lehi?!  I knew they were planning on doing that, but I didn't know it was already done!  That's awesome!!  I definitely want to go there when I get home!! That will be legit! There are going to be a lot of things I need to do when I get home haha.  I don't think I'll be able to cram them all in to just the one week before school starts though haha.  

Nels gave us his old phones huh?  That's so nice of him! He's the best! Thanks Nelsie!  It's an iPhone 5?  Sweet! 

Haha that's good to hear that the lake will be nice and full in Montana!  I can't believe they got so much snow!  That's awesome!  

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!!  Love you all!

Love, Elder Wise

Monday, January 5, 2015

Only 5 left...

So I got to thinking the other day, and guess what I realized?  I only have 5 transfers left!  That just blows my mind.  The last 16 months (as of yesterday) have just flown by!!  It's crazy!

Anyways though. This week was pretty good!  We didn't teach as many lessons as we usually do, but the ones that we did teach were bomb.  But I'll come back to that in a minute.  

The week started off with District Meeting on Tuesday.  Which isn't normally worth mentioning but in this instance, it affected the rest of the week.  We had a great training on inviting people to be baptized and putting them on date.  So we took that and rolled with it.  Now we have 9 investigators on date!  And several more coming up next week.  So that's awesome!  The investigators on date are: Sis Armstrong, David Toral, Jesus, Maria, Angie, Iffat and John Shad, and Luke Sardar, and Lazarus Sardar!  All on date for days in February.  So hopefully I get to stay one more transfer!!  If everything goes according to plan, we will be baptizing every Saturday in February.  It's going to be awesome! Coming up this week we will hopefully be able to put a few more.  Such as Kimberly and Janice Galvez, and Gloria and Palwasha Sardar.  So pray for all of them!  Thanks! 

Miracles happen.  We taught the Word of Wisdom to a few of our investigators the other day, and we were pretty nervous about what they were going to say.  But our preparation and prayers paid off and they totally accepted it and agreed with the principles.  It will probably take a little bit more to help them to actually live it, but this was a huge step.  So we are grateful for that.  

Sadly, our new investigators from last week decided to drop us.  They want to stay with their family tradition of Catholic.  We will still be able to swing by occasionally but for now, they aren't interested.  Sad day.  But not to worry! We will find others I'm sure.

Being a solo ZL is a fun time.  Whenever I have leadership meetings I just leave him with some other elders and I go with some other Zone Leaders.  And we never go on splits with members really anyway, so that's not too much of a problem.  And when we exchange with other missionaries, he just goes to their area since he doesn't know ours too well yet haha.  

I'm glad to hear that you all made it home from Mississippi alright!  With only a little drama haha.  

I'm super jealous of the Keb Mo concert though!! That sounds awesome!!  Too bad he didn't sing my song.  

Well, I hope you have a great week!! Thanks for all your prayers and help!  Love you all!  

Love, Elder Wise