Happy Happy Happy!

Hello hello!! This week has been pretty good.  It didn't really feel like we did a whole lot but when we added up our numbers it turns out that we taught nearly 20 lessons this week!! So that was cool!!  We were also able to gain a couple new investigators yesterday as well!!  So we are pretty excited about that!!

Let's see, what all happened this week?  On Tuesday we met with Elder Walker of the Seventy.  He's the guy in charge of all the temples and temple presidents of the world.  He's a really cool guy.  I asked him if he knew President Thorderson and he said he did!! So that was a fun time.  He taught us some cool stuff.  We dissected Alma chapter 8.  It's such a great chapter!! I was also able to see Elder Reber from PG, and Sister Young (Paige) so that was sweet!! They are both doing well!. 

After the meeting we went and saw one of our investigators and he showed us his lizard.  It's huge!! So that was really cool too.  I'll send some pics.  

 This week has been a really great car week!!!!  First off, on wednesday we were driving up around in the really rich part of town, and we stopped by a guys house just on a whim.  We had met him our first week in Yucaipa and hadn't ever been able to see him again cause he's usually gone.  But that day we just decided to stop by.  Well, it turns out he was there and so we were talking to him and we soon came to find out that one of his hobbies is buying and restoring and reselling super nice cars.  So guess what was in his garage?!  A 1989 Ferrari!!!!  It was unreal!!  He's taking it to auction pretty soon.  He's hoping to get about $100,000 for it.  It's such a beautiful car.  And sitting next to it in his garage was a super cool 2004 Viper.  So that was a really great day. 

Love the reflection of his tie in the window!

 Also, on Friday, there was a big carnival/car show/concert/pretty much everything in town and the people running it knew the missionaries and got all of us to volunteer and help out.  It was cool though cause Elder Seright and I were put on garbage duty so that involved walking up and down the street, picking up garbage, but also looking at all the sweeeeeeet classic cars!!! There were TONS of them!!!  I got loads of pics! One of the guys even let me climb in his 66 Chevelle and take a pic.  It was really sweet!!!

The other fun thing that happened this week was our wards Trunk-or-Treat.  That was Saturday night.  It was pretty fun!! It was probably the most elaborate ward party I've ever seen.  And there were tons and tons of people there!!  One of our investigators even came! So that was really fun. 

Sadly, we didn't get to see Chris again.  Gosh dang it.  I don't think she's purposely avoiding us though.  So that's probably a good sign.  Hopefully we will catch her sometime.  I don't even know anymore.  One of the fun things Seright and I have started doing is we made a calendar of all the birthdays in the ward and we call them on their birthday and sing to them.  Haha it's a fun time.  People seem to appreciate it!

Transfers are this week.  But we found out today whether or not we will be going anywhere.  Elder Seright and I are both staying in Yucaipa for another 6 weeks!!  I'm kinda glad I'm not leaving.  I'm just starting to get the hang of the place!! Haha

Anyways, Sounds like there's a lot of stuff going on at home and in the ward!!  That's crazy about Guy and Paula!  Fun stuff!!!

Birthday.  I'm pretty sure there's a place around here that sells shoes.  I'll double check though and tell you next week.  Also, there's not a whole lot of restaurants but there are a few.  I'll check on that as well :)  Thanks!!  I have no idea about the winter coats thing.  I also don't know about the suit coats and stuff.  I should probably find that out.  Seright has only been here 6 months so winter here is new to him too. 

That story about the missionaries in NYC is sweet!!!  We should try to find something like that to do here haha. 

Lucie's plans for her baptism sound awesome!! I'd love to write a talk for it haha!  Also, I will try my best to get a baptism on that day :) 

Well, I hope everyone is doing well!!  Missionary work rocks!  Love you!!

-Elder Wise

(Note from Mom)

Man I love this kid!

Oh Boy Oh Boy!!

Hello hello!

California is still pretty great.  Let's see, what happened last week?  We visited lots of less active members and members.  Since we don't have a whole lot of investigators we go around and just try to talk to people in the ward and visit the less actives.  It's pretty good.  Most people can only see us in the evening though so for the early afternoon and stuff, there's still just a lot of wandering around, knocking on doors and stuff.  It's a good time!! 

There were a couple cool things that happened this week.  

1:  We were visiting one of the less actives in the ward, who had told us not to come over.  We went anyway and she was actually super happy to see us.  We ended up talking for a long time and she kept telling us how glad she was that we came over even though she told us not to.  That's only half the story though.  The second half is that as we were starting to drive away, a man walked up to our car and wanted to talk to us.  We rolled down the window and he said "Hello, my name is Juan, and I am a Witness of Jehovah.  But I would like to read the Book of Mormon just to see what it is all about.  Do you have one that I could have?"  And we were like, Heck Yeah! So we gave him one and offered to give him our number so he could call us if he had questions but he said no and walked off.  It was cool though.  I hope he likes it. 

2:  There is a house about a quarter mile down the road from the Masseys.  It's a pretty nice house.  But the really nice bit is what's inside the garage.  A LAMBORGHINI!!!! Soooooooo sweet!!!  They were out cleaning it on Saturday and let us take some pictures.  I attached a couple :)  It's so sweet.  The guy also has a way sooped up Mustang and a super nice Mercedes. 

Past that, nothing much else happened this week.  Chris couldn't meet yesterday again so I can't report on that.  :(  Next week though hopefully!!!

The members of our ward are slowly starting to get used to the whole missionary work idea.  A lot more people are starting to get enthusiastic about it.  Especially the youth.  At church, there are always some youth that come up and tell us the missionary experiences they've had at school and stuff.  A lot of the kids are inviting people to church and activities and stuff.  I think the parents are seeing the kids doing it and are starting to realize that it's not that hard.  Haha.  It's sweet. 

Sounds like things are crazy at home!!! I'm thinking maybe you should send me some of that Cider???  Yeah that's a good idea.  And those crepes sounded amazing!!!! One of the members fed us crepes one night.  MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm.  Totally delicious.  Pretty much I'm just super jealous of missing out on all the festivities!! They sounded awesome!! I'm glad Sadie had a good time.  Oh and I'm glad you liked the Bear Sade :)

One of the cool things happening this week is Elder Walker of the Seventy is coming to talk to all the missionaries.  He's the guy in charge of all the temples pretty much.  He's been at every single dedication over the past couple years.  So we are super excited to hear from him.  It's pretty much an all day things.  We start at 9:30 and go until 4.  It's gonna be sweet!  Past that, I don't know what's in store for this next week.  Hopefully some sweet stuff. 

I hope everything is going well!!  I love you all.  Missionary work is the best!  California is awesome!!

Love, Elder Wise

Hey Jack!

Hello everyone!  I'm glad P-Day is finally here!!  Last week went pretty good.  Not a whole lot of stuff happened though.  Lets see.

On Saturday we had exchanges. It's a fun time I guess.  Mostly just annoying.  I had to pack up pretty much everything and take it to a different house where I stayed for a night and then I had to take it all back to the Massey's and unpack again.  It was fun though.  It's nice to get to see a different part of town for a change.  

Past that, nothing much else happened.  We didn't have too many appointments set up for last week so we decided to just go out and tract, even though we aren't really supposed to.  But it's better than just sitting around.  We don't get to do anything over social media either.  Not yet anyways.  Within the next year or so we might be able to start using facebook and other stuff like that.  So we just went out and walked around.  Which is good cause I'm starting to get fat since we just drive everywhere and eat a lot.  I've been working out in the mornings though so that's good.  

Chris is doing well, but we didn't get to see her yesterday.  She was with her mother and daughter and nieces doing some stuff.  But hopefully we will get to go see her next Sunday.  Thanks for praying for her and stuff!!! I know it will help a ton.  Prayer is amazing.  

On Saturday, we were in the area of Dave's sister so we called her up and tried to go see her.  She told us to just stop by whenever and that if she was gonna leave she would call us.  Well, as we were climbing out of our car in front of her house, she called and said she was going up the canyon for a bit.  So we just missed her.  I tried calling her again later that night but she didn't answer.  So I'll have to try and go back to see her sometime.  I was bummed that we didn't get to go talk to her.  

P-Days are usually pretty great.  We always get together with the whole zone and do something fun.  Today we played some volleyball and last week we went to a corn maze/petting zoo/pumpkin patch.  It was a good time!! I had left my camera at home though :( gosh dang it.  So no pics of that.  

It's crazy to think that pretty much all my friends are out of the MTC now and in the field.  It's so cool!! Missionary work is awesome.  

Well, I don't have much else to mention haha.  Hopefully next week there will be more cool stuff to talk about :)  If I forgot to mention something just let me know :)

I love you guys! Hope you are all doing well.  Keep being member missionaries!  They are the key to everything.  

Have a great week!! 

Love, Elder Wise

Hey!!

 Hello Hello!

This week has been pretty laid back.  Obviously, Conference was the big highlight!  I really enjoyed Uchtdorf's and Monson's and the black guy, and Nielson's, and pretty much all of them!  Haha did you know that the black guy was a slave in Zimbabwe and his owner was the one who gave him a BOM?  Fun fact.  Haha  Conference went by way too fast though.  I'm not used to that.  It was super awesome!  We had to go to the stake center to watch the sessions.  The butterscotch rolls were an epic fail.  Apparently, rhodes brand is like non-existent in California unless you go to like Walmart or something, which we don't have in our zone so we couldn't go, so we had to use a different brand that didn't work at all.  I was super dissappointed.

I haven't done as much cooking as I really thought I would.  We have dinner appointments pretty much every night so we don't have to cook for that.  We mostly just have to find food for lunch.  Which so far has mostly consisted of mac and cheese, frozen pizzas, eggs, and chips and stuff.  And we don't have much time so making stuff from scratch is a little impractical for lunch.  Which is a bummer.  It's good though.  I'm getting pretty good at shopping for myself now.  At first it was kinda rough.  haha

I'm glad to hear all the boys still went to the stake center for conference.  Pretty much everyone around here watched it at home.  Which, as you could imagine, means that pretty much everyone slept through it.  Haha.  Oh well, they missed out.  It was way good! 

I really hope I can get in contact with Dave's sister!  What is her name?  I'm really hoping she's in my area cause if she's not, I don't really think I'll be able to get to her house.  We really only go on exchanges with the zone leaders.  So if she's not in my area, hopefully she's in theirs.  I'll try my hardest though.

Sounds like Lucie is hilarious!! Miss you Luc!! Keep up the good work :)

I'm sure keven loved his packages!  Speaking of Keven.  I miss that kid.  We saw a small white VW Golf the other day and it even had blacked out rims, just like kevens car, and I totally thought it was him for a minute.  And then I remembered that he's all the way in Utah.  And then I thought maybe Kade and Elle had borrowed the car and driven out here to visit her family or something, and I got excited again, and then I saw the Cali license plates and dissappointment hit me all over again.  Haha can't wait to see him in a couple years.  And I'm glad his Visa came through!!  That's tight!

Sounds like it's been cray-cray at the house this past week!  Sounds like a party!  Too bad britta and james weren't really there.  Get after them for me will you? I haven't gotten a letter or email or anything from them.  Jerks.  haha jk

I was really missing the donuts the other day.  Pretty much all day I just thought about how I wouldn't be eating them.  I'm glad you all got to though. 

Chris is the name of our investigator that we are teaching.  We taught her again on sunday after conference.  She's been reading a TON of anti stuff and it's really hard to convince her that it's all a bunch of crap.  Of course, we didn't say it like that though haha.  She invited us back though so that's a start.  We are trying to come up with ideas on how to convince her to stop reading anti stuff.  It's wierd though cause she's read all the mormon stuff too.  She's pretty much read all of D&C and lots of the Book of Mormon, and she's gotten on mormon.org and lds.org and stuff.  So she's really knowledgable.  But she's really hooked on the Anti ideas.  Any suggestions??

Well I hope everything is going well!! I miss you guys! Hope you are having a great time!!

Love, Elder Wise

Holy Moly!

(little note from Mom--I've been having missionary mail anxiety.  Last week he emailed first thing in the morning.  We just barely got the email for today.  Sheesh!)

Hello Hello!!

This has been a crazy week!! I don't even know where to start! I guess I'll start with the bike situation.  It's so awesome.  WE GOT A CAR!! YAY!!!  My legs are very thankful haha.  We also got a phone! YAY!!! So things are really starting to pick up around here haha. Ready for the big news?? We have an investigator as well!!!! Haha it's a great time.  We have only met with her once so far though.  Hopefully she stays interested and wants to keep going.  We fasted for all day on Sunday and I've been praying for her.  I think she is going to be really receptive.  It's great!  We were also able to teach a few other lessons last week.  So things really are starting to happen.  It's great!!

Sounds like things are pretty crazy at home!! I can't believe I'm missing out on spudnuts and stuff this year.  It's pretty rough.  I think I'm gonna try and make some butterscotch rolls sunday morning though.  Gotta keep with tradition!  Haha

Thanks for sending my knife! I can't wait till it gets here :)  Zoe sent me a letter in the mail and it took about 5 days for it to finally get to my house.  I think there is kind of a long layover at the mission office.  It's annoying.  But I LOVE LOVE LOVE gettting letters so feel free to send one any time :)

I guess I'll tell a little story really fast.  We got a referral from the stake presidents son-in-law Rick, so we decided to go and check it out.  Rick went with us.  The man's name is Leonard.  He's fantastic.  Not really a potential investigator but really great nonetheless.  Anyways, we went over there and when he first saw us through the door we heard him say "Gotta get those *darn* preachers off the porch!" haha but he let us in and this is where the story gets kinda funny.  Leonard is an 89 year old mexican with a paralyzed left foot.  He fell off a horse in his driveway onetime and broke his back and ever since then he's been paralyzed.  Anyways, he wheeled his chair over to the door and let us in and as I walked in I realized something.  He was sitting there in just his underwear!! Some nice boxer-briefs.  Haha all that went through my head was lucie singing "I see london I see france, I can see your underpants!"  Haha it was great.  He is a hard-core cowboy.  He LOVES riding horses and stuff and did a ton of riding in Utah and New mexico and stuff.  Anyways, we had a nice chat.  We tried to bring up the Restoration and stuff but he kept getting distracted and he wasn't too interested.  Even though we told him the Book of Mormon was all about ancient indians and stuff.  He wasn't too enthused.  He said we could stop by sometime though.  We probably will.  It's pretty entertaining.

Elder Seright and I are doing great.  Here's a little more about him. I can't remember what I told you before but anyways.  He's from Coalville UT, he's the youngest of 7 kids, he played basketball, baseball, and football.  He was in the Band and the Orchestra.  He's a ginger.  He's a solid 190 lbs.  He loves to drive fast (but safe) haha. He's just really cool.

The sister missionaries who serve with us in the Yucaipa 4th ward are Sister McHood and Sister Kalke.  From south carolina and texas.  They are really nice.  Kalke is kinda crazy though.  McHood and Seright were in the MTC together.  Kalke has been out a transfer longer than me.  All in all, the Yucaipa 4th ward missionaries are pretty great.

The family we live with is sweet too.  The 17 year old drives a BMW Z4 to school everyday.  Lucky kid.  They also have this SWEEET restored GTO in the garage.  I think its a 67.  I'm super jealous.  One of their sons just got back from his mission in Argentina.  He's a real nice guy.  It's funny to talk to him cause he always starts speaking in spanish and then remembers he's supposed to speak english.  He's great.

Anyways, It's about time for me to go.  We are at the Library today for emails and I'm on a timer.  Most of the time I think we do emailing at the church and we have a little extra time.  Also, when we are at the church, it's easier to send pics.  I'll try to send some next week if we email at the church. 

Love you guys!!!!!

-Elder Wise

Hello from Yucaipa, California!

This week has been crazy!  California is a pretty cool place.  It reminds me a lot of Utah.  Except for all the Palm trees.  That's really the only different part.  My mission president is way cool.  He's a really nice guy.  Very spiritual.  He's always tearing up haha.  My companion is Elder Seright.  He's from Coalville UT.  We get along just great!

We have been assigned to work in the Yucaipa area just like that random lady said.  I have no idea who she is haha.  Is that where Ellle said she lived? I couldn't remember.  Maybe you should call K'Ann and ask her.  It's pretty interesting up here though. There is a no tracting rule.  All missionary contacts and referrals come from members.  Elder Seright and I, along with a couple of Sisters, are assigned to the Yucaipa 4th ward.  Yesterday in Ward Council the bishop told them all that missionary work takes priority over all callings, activities, youth-things, and anything else except for family commitments.  They were all given a list of names to go out and contact and try to set stuff up for us missionaries to do. 

It's been a pretty rough week for missionary work though.  Elder Seright and I are essentially opening up a new area and so we had no information at all. We didn't even have a ward list until the second day we were here.  To make matters worse, they haven't even given us a phone yet.  Supposedly, we are gonna get one today.  Apparently some order went wrong in Salt Lake and so none of the phones made it out here.  The next thing that's not so fun is the fact that Yucaipa is the hilliest place I've ever been.  Literally the whole place is one giant hill.  And we are on bikes.  It sucks cause we have to waste so much time riding places.  It takes us nearly an hour to get to some of the houses.  And since we don't have a phone to let them know we are coming, often times they aren't even home.  For the past few days, since we don't have any investigators yet, we've just been going around and dropping in on ward members and less actives and meeting them.  They are all really nice and they seem to like us haha. 

More about the bikes.  There is no way I should still be alive.  Haha every night when we get home my legs feel like they are gonna fall off, but when I wake up, I'm not even sore.  The lord is definitely helping me out.  haha. 

That's sad to hear about Montana's friend :(

One of the things that President Van Cott is really pushing is exact obedience.  Apparently in the past, this mission has had some really crazy elders and the area really suffered.  I've just been hearing horror stories of all these awful missionaries.  It's really turning around though.  Just not in our ward currently haha.  We will get some investigators soon though i'm sure. 

The only really cool thing that's really happened to me this week is that I saw a pomegranate tree.  That was cool.  Haha. 

Sounds like everything is pretty crazy at home! Sounds like a lot of fun though :)  I've been dying cause I just want to go waterskiing so bad.  The weather around here is pretty much perfect all the time for that.  Speaking of the weather, it's pretty hot during the day but it's been starting to cool down a lot.  Everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am to be here at this time.  Even like two weeks ago it was like 10 degrees hotter every day.  Glad I missed that!

Good luck with the swim stuff Sade!

Keven and Skyler, you are gonna love the field when you finally get there! ;)

Well it's about time for me to go, I'll talk to you next week! :)

Love you guys!!

-Elder Wise

An Email from a Stranger

This is Mom.  I opened my email today and found this note from a lady visiting a ward in California.  Missionary Moms Unite!!

Hi my name is Sandra. I was visiting family in Yucaipa Ca. As a missionary mom myself I know how very little pictures we can receive and the more the merrier. So I had your missionary pose for me hope you enjoy the pics.

And she even sent a video!

Thanks Sandra, whoever you are--you just made our day!