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