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

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 :)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 :)

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

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 

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

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 

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

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

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