Colton:Take 7

And there goes week one of my 7th transfer in Colton.  It wasn't too bad!  Plus, it even cooled down which was really nice.  I think I even wore a jacket one day.  Which is sad.  I'm now one of those wimpy Californians who are freezing when it's like 70.  Utah is gonna be tough next year haha.

Let's see, well on Monday we picked up a new investigator.  Her name is Michelle Cash.  She lives in the same apartment complex as Carlos and Grace. That's pretty much just where all of our investigators come from.  Which works out cause then they have like half a dozen perfect fellowshippers.  It's great! She's really cool.  

We did have some baptisms scheduled for this last Saturday but they didn't quite happen.  In fact, Brother Angel (who was so golden it was ridiculous)  has pretty much vanished from off the face of the earth.  We don't know what happened really but he ignores us and won't answer the door even though we know he's in there.  It's really sad.  

Sister Armstrong is still doing well.  Although she's been kinda sick lately.  And she keeps going out of town for random reasons so that's no good.  She's been thinking and praying about a baptism date though.  So hopefully she will be baptized here in the next month or two.  

We had a zone conference this last week as well which was super awesome!!  We talked about two main things.  Conversion, and the Book of Mormon.  It was really really good.  I learned lots about the process of conversion, and how to ask inspired questions and answer them with the Book of Mormon.  Since it's the book of Mormon that really does all the conversion.  They tied together quite nicely.  

Church yesterday was pretty good.  Lazarus and Gloria were able to make it again, along with a couple other investigators.  My favorite part though was that my favorite little kid, Angel Pasillas (the one who was going to be baptized, but moved away right before), came back and went to church with us!! It was great to see him.  Plus, it's really cool cause it turns out that one of his best friends is Raul Santiago, who we baptized last month.  So they were hanging out and having a good time.  And Raul's big brother Angel was able to get the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday as well!  So next week he'll be passing the sacrament!  It's just so awesome! 

I did get the package you sent!  Don't worry, I haven't opened it yet.  Although I've been tempted.  I'm sure I'll love it! Thanks so much! 

Glad to hear everything is going well at home!  Sound freezing!  I'm kinda jealous and kinda not haha.  I do miss snow though.  

congrats on getting your drivers license Sadie!  That's sweet!  Just don't crash my car :)

Well, thanks for everything!!  Hope you have a fantastic week!! Love you all! 

Love, Elder Wise

Where Am I Going?

Well, here's the question...Am I getting transferred??  The answer is............No!!  I'm staying here in Colton for at least 5 more weeks!!  (This transfer is a week shorter, due to Christmas.  Next transfer will be a week longer.)  So yay!!  That's pretty exciting.  At this point I am hoping I'll stay for another transfer after this one, the reason being that if I do I'll have been here almost a whole year, and also, I'll get to see Carlos' and Grace's baby be born!!  That would be pretty cool.  Grace says the baby already recognizes my  voice haha. Every time we go over the baby starts kicking.  Fun stuff.

Well, this week has been pretty crazy!!  Some really cool things went down.  First off, the Galvez Family got baptized!!  It went really well.  Their confirmations yesterday went smoothly as well.  I'll send some pics.

Elder Wise, Elder Webb, Fabian, Silvia, Ashley, Richard, Elder Woolf

 

The other really fun part of the week was that I went on exchanges with Elder Seright again!  It was really fun.  But you won't believe this.  We went to the Asian Buffet for dinner, and I ate octopus.  Yup.  Aren't you proud of me?  It kinda reminded me of chicken heart.  But more rubbery.  It had no taste.  I'll send some pics of that too.  

We got a lot of investigators at church yesterday too!  Well, 5.  I've told you about the family from Kuwait we are teaching right?  Well a few of them were able to make it to church yesterday. It was total chaos though, for a number of reasons.  But, suffice to say, it all worked out.  So that was great! 

Oh, we got a new truck too!  The old one we were driving was getting old so they replaced it with a brand new 2015 Nissan Frontier!  It's soooooo nice!  I really enjoy it.  We switched them out at MLC on Thursday.  Which went really well!  Almost the entire meeting was focused on Finding new investigators.  It was really great! 

I got the package of goodness!!  Thanks so much!!  Everything arrived in great condition.  So yummy! Thanks! 

That's so fun that the Sisters were able to make it over!  Sounded like a great time!!  

Well, I'm about outta time today.  The library is crowded!  Have a great week!! 

Love, Elder Wise

What A Week

Well, this week turned out a lot differently than expected.  We had a lot of lessons planned and they pretty much all fell through haha.  On the bright side, we had quite a few people at church!  7 actually.  And 3 of them came for the first time!  Lazarus and his wife Gloria (the ones from Pakistan) were able to make it and I think they enjoyed it!  It's always kind of nerve wracking on Fast Sundays.  Their kids weren't able to come though cause they were working.  We will have to work on that one.

Good news!  The Galvez family passed their baptismal interviews yesterday! So we are getting everything ready for their baptism this Saturday!  It's going to be awesome.  It's crazy though, cause they are moving this week as well, luckily within our ward boundaries still, so we are getting everything worked out for that as well.  It's going to be a great week!  

Lazarus and his wife fed us dinner this week.  It was authentic Kuwaitian food.  It was pretty good!  Their daughter Choosy (that's her nickname.  Her real name is Paluasha which is too hard to say) made it and accidentally put waaaay to much chile's in it and it was pretty spicy.  It was still good though.  They are so nice! 

Halloween wasn't too exciting.  We just planned all evening.  No one even knocked on the door or anything.  So that was cool.  

Sad news.  Our neighbor Fadi moved.  Stay tuned for some pics though!  I'm gonna miss that guy.

I feel so small next to him.

His biceps are as big as my head.

Well, sounds like you all had a great week at home!  Haha I'm glad you all had a great halloween!  It sounded super fun! I love all the pics too!  Those pumpkins look awesome!! 

I can't wait for those pizza rolls!  Thanks so much mom! That'll be the highlight of the week for sure!

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

Love, Elder Wise

Julian and Perseus.  It was a long day!

Elder Hayden goes home next week.  He's the AP, so he was able to meet us for lunch.

Crazy!

This week has been soooo crazy! I don't even know where to begin.  Monday I guess.  After emailing last week, we went to the apartment and started to relax.  Well that lasted like 5 minutes before we got a call that some elders had broken their phone, and needed us to drive to the mission office to get a new one for them.  So we did that.  Which worked out because then I was able to pick up the package and stuff!  After that we went to contact a referral that turned out to be super awesome!  We got 5 new investigators from that one!  They are super cool.  The Serrano Family. I'll come back to them in a min.   So Monday was good.  Tuesday was good but nothing really huge to report.  Wednesday. Wednesday went crazy.  It started off great, we did some service, went to lunch with the AP's, and then we contacted another referral and found 2 more investigator families!  They are from Pakistan.  The Shad Family, and the Sardar Family.  They are soooo cool! After that we went saw the Serrano family again.  This time they had a friend with them.  He's a born-again christian.  And he loves to Bible-bash.  It was bad.  I feel like we did a pretty good job of standing our ground, but it was a huge waste of time and just plain stupid.  So that put a downer on the day.  The rest of the week was pretty legit though.  Brother Marmolejo (he goes by brother Angel now) is on fire.  We met with him 3 times this week, he helps clean the church every Saturday, and he attended two sacrament meetings on Sunday, just because he likes it so much.  And he helped set up and do stuff for the ward party that we had on Saturday. It was a trunk-or-treat and it was held at this super nice venue that a member owns.  It was pretty sweet!

And that's pretty much all the really exciting things that happened this week.  We did a lot of street contacting and found quite a few potential investigators that seem pretty solid. So hopefully this next week we will pick up a bunch of new investigators as well! 

Well, I hope all is going well back home.  Looks like the party was pretty awesome!  Congrats on being 16 Sadie.  Don't crash the car :)

Also, I did get those ties a while back.  The kids loved them! Thanks so much! And that pic of Lexy is so awesome!  Haha I love it.  

Our plans for Halloween include working all day, and then going in at 6 to weekly plan.  woohoo!  It's a party for sure.  I'll definitely be missing those spudnuts haha.  Eat some for me! 

Well, have a great week!!  The church is true :)

Love, Elder Wise

Hello Hello!

Well, this week was pretty bomb, but also kinda lame.  It was lame cause we had like 3 days where every single appointment fell through.  So that was no fun.  It was bomb though for the following reasons:

1. Elder Evans came and spoke to us!!  He is so cool!  I learned a LOT! He talked to one half of the mission on Thursday, and he talked to my half of the mission of Friday and I guess he talked about completely different things in each one.  I guess on Thursday he talked a lot about how to use Family History in our proselyting efforts, as well as preparing ourselves spiritually for when we finally get iPads which will probably be in January.  And then on Friday he talked to us a lot about marriage, and kind of just a bunch of random stuff haha.  He just got up and started talking and just went wherever he really wanted to.  It was awesome!  He told us how he got married 3 months after his mission, and one of the twelve ( I think it was Elder Scott but I'm not for sure) asked him why it took him so long!  Haha cause Elder Scott got married two weeks after I guess.  No worries, I won't be getting married that fast. One of the things that Elder Evans spoke about in both however, was asking everyone for referrals.  In every single teaching opportunity.  So we did a thing where after the conference, we asked everyone and then texted the Mission President the results.  In the first night of asking everyone, the mission as a whole received over 100 referrals.  It's crazy!  So that's what we have been really working on.  Asking for referrals.  

2.  We took brother Marmolejo with us to a baptism at the church on Saturday.  Up until this point, he has refused to set a baptismal date with us.  Well, right before the baptism started, he leaned over and said "What do I have to do to be baptized?"  We were only too happy to tell him.  So now he is on date for November 15!!  He is super stoked.  He was telling everyone about it at church yesterday haha.  So that was pretty bomb.  

3.  All of our other investigators are doing really well too!  Sister Armstrong wasn't able to come to church yesterday cause she was out of town, but she is doing really well.  The Galvez family was able to make it to church yesterday and they are all really excited to be baptized on nov 8.  We also got some referrals last week for some pretty solid people!  So hopefully we will be picking up some more investigators this week.  That would be good.  

So yeah, that was mainly what went on this week.  It was pretty great! Sounds like everything is going pretty well in good ol PG.  Happy Birthday Sadie! Your party sounds like it's going to be crazy! Fun stuff!    Sun Valley sounds super fun too!  I wasn't able to get any of those pictures that you sent though.  They never arrived.  :(

Well, I hope you all have a great week!!  The Church is True :)

Love, Elder Wise

Spread!

Hello!  This week was pretty good!  Nothing really super exciting happened though.  Everyone is doing really well.  The Armstrong's are doing really great, although Rayaa is progressing a lot more than her mom because her mom can't get to church very easily.  So we are focusing more on Rayaa right now.  She is still on date for November 8.  The other people we have on date for the 8 is the Galvez family!  They are super awesome!  We had a good lesson with them last night.  They are just super awesome.  Brother Marmolejo is doing really well also!  Although he's kinda sick right now which is a bummer.

So, we were at Carlos and Grace's house last night and we got there as they were just finishing up dinner.  And guess what they were having?  It's called Spread.  Basically, it's prison food.  Haha inmates just throw everything they have into a paper or plastic bag and mix it all together and it's called Spread.  And Carlos makes some crazy spread.  Well, he didn't tell me what was in it until I had tried it, which is a good thing cause if I'd known what was in it I would never have tried it.  It had ramen, beans, tuna, mayo, mustard, bread, jalepinos, and a bunch of other stuff that he just had laying around haha.  It looked really nasty but it really didn't taste too bad.  I wouldn't ever eat it again but hey, I tried it.  You should be proud of me haha. 

But yeah, that's really about all the exciting things that happened last week! 

Sounds like a lot of fun back home though! The ward party sounded super fun!  

Hahaha Lucie you are so funny.  Isn't Ammon cool! And you really need to not do handstands in the tub hahaha.  That's dangerous! And way to win your soccer game again! 

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

Love, Elder Wise

(from left to right) Jayro, Raul, Angel, Elder Urry and Elder Wise

Tony!

GC Weekend!

Man, General Conference is so bomb.  It goes by so fast!!  I remember when It used to just drag on forever and ever.  But now it goes by just way too fast!  There were so many good talks! I can't even pick my favorite. Plus, I accidentally left my notebook, so I can't even peruse my notes haha.  We watched it at the stake center.  And sadly, I wasn't able to make butterscotch rolls.  sad day.

Oh and I got my new companion this week. Elder Webb is a pretty sweet guy!! We get along really well.  He is from Eagle Mtn. Utah.  So pretty close!  I just keep getting companions that live near by haha! He's really cool.  He's been out for about a year total, but he just came back to the mission a couple transfers ago.  He had to go home for 9 months for some back problems.  So good news is, as long as he is my comp, I will definitely be having a car! Haha.  We are co-ZLs.  Yes, it was kinda weird to send a missionary home.  He tried his hardest not to be trunky but he was.  Haha #struggle

Our investigators are doing really well though!  We put Sister Armstrong and Sister Armstrong on date to be baptized.  We are shooting for Nov 8.  So if it all works out, we would have about 6 baptisms that day!  That would be so bomb haha. :)

Sorry I haven't sent pics yet.  I will definitely send some next week.  Cause I forgot my camera today :(  Sorry!! 

I'm glad to hear everything is going well in Utah!!  It sounds like a blast!!  That Tail-gate party sounds super fun! 

That temple was awesome!! Way to go Lucie!!  It looks super good! 

Well, I'm just about outta time.  Hope you all have a wonderful week!!  Love you all!!

Love, Elder Wise

P.S.  Haha yeah she's home! Crazy!  She emailed me actually haha.  She's cool

P.P.S  I'm glad you got the letter! Let me know how it goes!