CHRISTMAS!!!! Google Video - December 25th, 2011

Christmas Day! We got up early. Our Christmas tree fell over that morning as Jim was putting some last minute gifts behind the tree for Alisa (yay!)! That was exciting! Elder Peterson and Elder Haycock came over and brought their Christmas their families had sent them! We had our Christmas and saw what Santa had in store for us this year.

Sportin' our GATOR SHIRTS!!!!

Levi sent us a package - all of us got "GATOR" shirts! Now we are not necessarily all "Florida Gator" fans. However - if you haven't noticed, Elder Wise refers to all investiGATORS as "Gators". So, thus they are all "Florida Gators"! :)

We went to sacrament meeting where Alisa sang in the choir and also played "Christmas Walz - The First Noel" by David Lanz, and all-time favorite. It was a wonderful program where they Primary sang, the YM/YW sang, Brother Gurney gave an incredible talk, the ward choir sang....just an amazing church program. 

Elder Wise!!!!! ((((((((((HUGS)))))))))) (and a kiss from mom)

We came immediately home and contacted the Tilton family. They had contacted us earlier in the week to set up the Google Video accounts and get ready for Sunday. We got hooked up and began to chat! 

Jim and Elder Wise!

"Oh how sweet it is"....to see Elder Wise's face, hear his voice and see how great he is doing! He has such a strong testimony, he is being so obedient to the mission rules - knowing that it will bring him happiness and success. He wants to waste no time on his mission, but use every minute and day to his best. He expressed how a current missionary that he lives with is already going home next transfer and it seems so strange because when he first arrived, that missionary had over 6 months left! So Levi expressed this is his first taste  of how fast time flies and he cannot waste one minute! 

There was one moment when I said, "Awesome!" He told us that their mission trains them very strictly to not use "slang" words such as "awesome", "like", "freaking", etc....this must have been very hard for Levi because he was the KING of slang before he left! He sound so professional, however, and I think it is a wonderful thing that when you represent Jesus Christ, that you sound and present yourself in a professional manner! We could really tell he was striving to do the right thing. 

Stockton could not stop smiling while talking to Levi! 

It was fun to watch his brothers talk to him and look up to him. 

Stockton had a smile from ear to ear as he was talking to his brother - about basketball etc. Levi told him to keep practicing and working out! He also asked him how his reading of the Book of Mormon was coming along! 

Teagen and Tish were able to "compare" mission experiences and talk about mission life! Teagen had some great advice to give. They teased him a bit about having to part his hair on the side. : ) 

BROTHERS....PRICELESS! "Are you going bald?" 

Levi and Micah were comparing "dating", girl and school experiences. Levi told him it wouldn't be long before he would be out on his mission, to prepare now! 

The hardest part about these wonderful phone calls - is saying goodbye! Tears stream after the phone/google video gets hung up. They are not so much tears of sadness - but of joy, longing, happiness - just MOTHER tears! My heart was just too full to hold all the emotions, so it started leaking through my eyes! 

Overall, it was such a wonderful 40 min! The best Christmas gift the Wise's could receive! It was fun having the Elders here for Christmas and having Christmas on Sunday!  

I can't wait to talk to him again on Mother's Day! 

LUNCH WITH A RELATIVE! - December 21, 2011

Elder Wise and Patrick Kane

Patrick writes this email: "Subway where we got sandwiches, really close to City Hall and the bridge over the St. John's River leading to East Palatka, part of his area Connar said. Elder Wise and Elder Wheeler as they arrived. And myself and Connar."

I love how he calls him Connar! :) Connar is Elder Wise's middle name and it's a combination of "Connie" (my deceased mother's name - I love her and miss her so much!) and Arvy (who is my great father's name). Thus...CONNAR! These are some great photos sent to me by Patrick Kane - after sharing their afternoon having lunch together!

I had asked Patrick to be sure to share some pics with me as I had not yet received any mission pics from Elder Wise (he's in big trouble for that...uh huh! :) THANKS PATRICK! 

Elder Wheeler and Elder Wise - showing up for lunch! 

FYI - Patrick is a cousin to my father - is this right Patrick? :) We just re-connected this last spring, and we found out he lives in Florida, about 2 hours from Jacksonville. So, he was "in the area", and had lunch with Elder Wise! So great!

The Bridge over St. John's River

Palatka City Hall

Downtown Palatka, FLORIDA

Subway! Elder Wise LOVES Subway! :) 

TALKING IN PERSON SOON! - December 19, 2011

TRANSFER INFO! I'm staying in Palatka again. I'll be spending at least 6 months here :O wooo.. AND BTW.. I hit my 6 month mark this last week. AND NO.. I didnt burn a tie. Thats a waste of money. (that's my boy!!)

Thank you so much for the package!! I really appreciate it! I only opened the scriptures. I'm waiting to open the rest until christmas day.

The way I am thinking the skype will have to work or google video.. whatever.. is I will have to call you at 4pm my time which is 1pm your time and then you can get me set up while we are talking and then we will get it going that way? Is that okay? Because right now, I dont have a member's house to go to. But I should have one by sunday. I was going to go to the Jensens but their computer broke down. So now I have to find another family.

My cell phone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. Tell him he can call at any time (this was in reference to going to lunch with my dad's cousin who lives in Florida. Levi got permission from his mission president to meet up with him! Very cool!) . I might call him too. 

So we might just end up talking on the phone but I WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN to make it so we can skype or google video or whatever.. But to start I will call you at 1pm your time and then we will get it set up? Is that okay?

And don't get mad at me but I could be spending a good 50 bucks on my personal card today because I am dry cleaning one of my suits. I need to laminate my Preach My Gospel and I am mailing you a package :/ YIKES!! So hopefully I can keep it down. But other than that I am doing amazing! Today's Pday is crazy so we decided as an apartment that we wouldn't take an hour on emails so I dont have much time. But I will talk to you on Sunday :) I am so excited! Make sure Teagen and Tish ARE THERE!!!!! (and they will be!!!! YAY!) 

I LOVE YOU!! email back to make sure plans are confirmed and then I gotta run :( Make sure you got the account set up before I call because when I call my 40 minutes start. BTW everything is going great! There is a lot of things going on here! And you get to hear all about it on Sunday! Merry Christmas.. I love you all!

I LOVE YOU MOM! TELL THE FAM I CANT WAIT TO SEE THEM. TELL THE WARD I SAY HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND THANK THEM FOR THEIR SUPPORT AND PACKAGES.... talk to you in 6 days :)

HAPPY 6 MONTH BIRTHDAY ELDER WISE!

Elder Wise "turns 6 months old" today - December 15th! Please wish him a "Happy Birthday" here on the blog by leaving some comments and wishing him a Happy Happy 6 month BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! Hip Hip Hooray! :) And what a great 6 month old he is :)

Trip to the ER - December 12th, 2011

Dear Family,

Well, last monday was crazy! I basically was driving Elder XXX (a missionary in my apartment) all around to different doctor appointments all day. He had been having massive headaches for awhile. They did a Cat Scan and called me in and told me that I needed to take him to an ER in Jacksonville because he might have an anurism. So we called Sister Barry let her know what was going on. Then we made a trip to Jacksonville. Basically, the doctor in Palatka messed up bad. There was NOTHING THERE! He has been having headaches because of an ear infection. But to make a long story short he is okay. And I was out of the apartment until 2am! That was really wierd!

With all the referrals we got, we have been all over the place this week. It was crazy! Lydia has been at the doctors all week and has been impossible to catch. And that has been the story of all the other referrals. We have two appointments for this afternoon and have a member going with us and hopefully it will be a good night!

This pday has been crazy! It has taken a long time to get to a computer and now I am rushing to just get an email off :( I am really sorry!

We did meet a really nice family this week. We went to see a former gator and she referred us to a lady's house. Her name is Tonya. So we go over there, and a man named Butch answers and invites us in. Tonya is sitting there and apparently they were taught by Elder Dyerly and his companion before me but they never made a teaching record. Anyways, we sat down and had a good lesson with them. They know a ton of members! We are seeing them today and our ward is having the christmas party on wednesday and we will be inviting them to that! They could be really amazing! They are very nice people!

We are also having a Mission Christmas Party in Jacksonville on Thursday! Two days in a row of Christmas parties!! OH YA! Anyways, I am sorry the email is so short this week but I am out of time!

I love you very much

elder wise

Needed: Member Missionaries! - December 5th, 2011

Dear Family

Thank you for the contact. I will definatly let you know if it comes :) I'll send you pics with my package :) I promise. sorry its taking me so long. I only have about 60 pictures so far and I don't think that is that much but I will send them next week or this week :)

That is crazy about Carli! It sounds like you had fun hunting for christmas stuff. (we went Christmas Tree hunting with the Gulzow's - great fun!)

Well, this week was odd! The first part of the week was absolutely horrible! Nothing was happening and we were fresh out of investigators and we were praying so hard to find people. Well, friday rolled around when we do our weekly planning and we had a fantastic weekly planning. We made great plans to find and it was super effective. Right after we finished weekly planning we got a media referral for a lady named Lydia. Her sister is about ready to get baptized in Arizona and she has been trying to find out when our church starts for 2 months. She came to church this sunday and we are meeting with her tomorrow.

Then we got 5 referrals from members this last week. We created our Ward Mission Plan with our Ward Mission Leader and the Bishop and all the leaders are really getting behind it and supporting it. Yesterday during sacrament meeting a bunch of members bore testimony about how they need to do more missionary work. We are so excited! We have so much potential in this area right now. It is about ready to erupt!!! This morning we got another Media Referral. And the percentage of people that chat on mormon.org with missionaries that get baptized is 80%. I am so excited!

I really think all the miracles are coming from the intense and effective planning and the sincere prayers because we have been struggling and have been working hard and now it is paying off. I love being a missionary. It is hard most of the time and very stressful, but when we push through and work hard miracles happen. When they do it makes everything worth it. I absolutely love it.

Right now btw, I am trying to really gain a relationship with our Savior. I know he lives and I have a strong testimony of the priesthood and all of that, but I want to have a close relationship with my Savior which I don't quite have. So do you have any ideas that will help me with that?

Anyways, I am doing absolutely incredible. I found out that I still might be transfered. If I told you that transfers were cancelled I was wrong. Everyone got confused. Transfers are still happening but we just aren't all meeting in Jacksonville like we normally do. So I still might get transfered. I hope not because this area is getting ready to erupt.

I love you all! Hope you have a fantastic week! Oh, I hope you watched the Christmas Devotional! It was so great!

Can't wait to SEE (we are trying to set up a skype with Elder Wise on Christmas Day - what a great gift!) and talk to all of you on christmas!! :) And I don't have a Florida accent I don't think? I dont know? You will have to tell me. I say ya'll more I know that. But thats about it haha!

I love you all, hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Wise

TOUCHDOWN>>>>>>LEVI!!!!!!!!!!!! - November 28, 2011

Dear Family,

Sounds like you all had an amazing week :) Glad to hear it! Sounds like you got some pretty rocking seats at the BBALL game :) NICE!

For thanksgiving day we ate at a family named the Tilton's. That is basically half the ward here. It was a lot of fun. Then we were able to play football for a couple hours! That was FUN :) I scored a touchdown :) OH YA!! I love doing things like that. The only bad thing is that I am so out of shape that I was sore for 2 days after Thanksgiving :P haha.

Lets see, what happened this week?  Well, I will be staying in my area for sure unless I'm training basically. They won't be doing transfers except for a few because of missionaries leaving and a few coming in. So I will more than likely be in good old Palatka for a bit longer.

Gator Update:

Antawn: He loves having us over but he hasn't been coming to church or anything :( He doesn't feel like he is ready to turn his life over to God just yet :P We are trying to pull out the repent now scriptures :)

Willy: Willy is a very nice guy. We tracted into him. We have only met with him once. But he really understands the message unlike a lot of people here. So that is really good.

Right now, we are really trying to get the member involved and work with them. President Barry is really pushing that right now so we have been trying to see a lot of members lately. Tamyra has also been doing really well btw. She came to church this last sunday and is fulfilling her calling :)

We really haven't had much else happen this week unfortunatly. Sorry this isn't very long either but I don't know what else to write. I'll share a little spiritual thought I guess.

I was reading in Alma 30 this morning and that is where Korihor is going around preaching against the church. And my favorite part of the chapter is when Alma dominates Korihor and he is just telling him how he is decieved by the devil. And I love verse 44. It is Alma's response to Korihor saying show me a sign. It is a marvelous response! And Korihor is still stubborn and gets struck dumb and eventually dies. But I really like that chapter because you can just feel the power behind Alma when he is preaching to Korihor and it just inspired me to strengthen my spiritual power and to always bear my testimony with the power of the Holy Ghost.

Anyways, I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week :)

Love,

Elder Wise

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING! - November 21, 2011

Dear Family,

So this week I was biking on my bike and something stupid flew into my eye, and it tore my left contact >:( Dumb THING! Anyways, about that, I was wondering if you wanted me to make a trip to Jacksonville and get an appointment at costco?? If I can? Because I dont have a card? But I do know that the perscription I have from Dr. Patel Costco does not have! I do remember that! But I was thinking it would probably be a lot cheaper to get contacts at Costco and I know a couple members who would be able to drive me up to Jacksonville? It is only an hour away. So call Sister Shirley and let me know what you want me to do. I can just sit back and wait for the ones from Dr. Patel. But I was just thinking it's probably cheaper for both contacts at Costco than just getting one from Dr. Patel :P RIDICULOUS! But just call Sister Shirley and let her know!

And dont worry, the area I am in is not dangerous at all! Everyone here loves the Jesus People so don't worry haha! In other business, I was wanting to buy you all gator shirts from wal-mart for christmas? I'm gonna go see how much they cost today? But is that okay? And also I need scripture markers? And can you get the ones that are like crayons sort of. Because the ones I have now are like Mechanical Pencil deals and they suck! And they broke :P I am borrowing my companions!

Anyways, this week was incredible! We had such a good week! The church is pushing insanely hard right now with member work and President Barry has actually asked us to avoid tracting. We are still allowed to but he wants us to find families and families are rarely home togethor unless you have an appointment. And converts that come from members are much stronger converts. And we have been trying to push member work in our ward right now!

Also, President Barry told us that it is OFFICIAL that in 3 to 4 years missionaries will have I Pads and they will have you report your numbers through the IPads and our planners will be on there! And teaching records and EVERYTHING WILL BE ON THERE! They even designed an APP that if your plans fall through it will tell you what would be the most effective thing to do! REALLY? That is the biggest stress of being a missionary, finding something to do that is productive! Micah will get to have that technology! I wont :( Crazy huh?

Anyways, Monroe is moving to Mississippi and we actually dropped almost all of our gators this week! The reason why I said this week has been amazing is because the work has become so much more productive! WAY MORE PRODUCTIVE! And I'm excited! We actually have one gator named Antawn. We randomly decided to stop by. He was a former Gator. And he is making a lot of progress but it might take him awhile to get baptized! He has a lot of things to work out.

For thanksgiving we are eating at a members home. There is a family named the Tiltons in this ward and it is half the ward! And so that family is feeding us :) We might play some football? I dont know if we can? We are still supposed to be proselyteing that day when we are not eating! So it is a normal day as a missoinary! I'm hoping we get Christmas completetly off but I don't think we will! I get to talk to you all in a month :) WOOO!!! I can't wait to hear all of your beautiful voices!

Anyways, I am doing fantastic and I am at a spiritual high right now! This morning I was reading in Alma 24 and that is where King Lamoni and his people bury their weapons and the Lamanites attack and they just kneeled on the ground and worshiped God while they were getting slain by the Lamanites and then the Lamanites felt really bad because they weren't fighting back and they started to worship God. In that story, 1,005 of King Lamoni's people were killed! But they were all righteous and because of their death more than 1,000 Lamanites were converted! We all need to be able to kneel down and let someone slay us for our Heavenly Father's sake! I don't know if I am at that point but I hope to be someday soon! I would like to say I would but I don't really know until I am in that situation! I love you all! Strive to be like the people of King Lamoni :) 

Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and yes Mom I should be able to print things :) And, in another letter from Anna she said that you still haven't updated the blog?? So I dont know? Smack Anna if you want :P haha! I love you, and thank you for being such a great example to me! Especially Mom and Dad and Teagen :) And Micah and Stockton too :) haha!

Have an amazing week! :)

Love,

Elder Wise

AN OPPORTUNITY TO SIGN!! - November 14th, 2011

Dear Family,

Well, do you want me to tell you about my new companion? Okay, I will :)

My companion's name is Elder Boamorte! Pernounced Bow-a-mort-ay! He is from Brazil and he has been on his mission for 8 months! And yes, he is a very hard worker and I love working with him. It is incredible and I really think this transfer is going to be incredible :) And yes, he has to do a language study because his native language is Portuguese (I probably spelled that wrong). 

Crazy story! We got a media referral this week! This ladies name is Michelle and she is deaf! So I called around and got permission from my Zone Leaders who is Elder SNOW (my trainer) and Elder Mecham to go shopping to get an ASL dictionary! And let me tell you it was not cheap and I had to use my home card. It was $23.00 :P GAH! But doesn't matter because I needed to brush up. And now, I get to do a language study with ASL and I am hoping that at some point I get transfered to St Augustine for 2 reasons. 1. It is an amazing area and 2. because there are a lot of deaf people there :) That would be fun!

Can you send me my call letter please?? Because then I can study it and learn from it ?? :) Well, this week was a crazy week. It has been pretty hard for me because I have to plan the whole day by myself until Elder Boamorte gets the hang of the area and having everything riding on you isn't fun. But, he is starting to get used to the area so that is good :)

I have learned so much this week! I have been studying intensly into Preach My Gospel lately because by studying that and following it I can become a much better missionary. Elder Bednar in the talk he gave to us at the MTC, he said that if we become Preach My Gospel missionaries we will have success and we will not walk away from our missions wishing we did more! So I have been getting into that a lot more! It has been amazing! So far, I have learned that someone can only gain a strong testimony through the Book of Mormon! My main goal should be to help people recieve a witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true! That can be hard! But I am trying to learn how!

We set a baptismal date with Monroe for the 26th this week :) And our problem with him has always been that he didn't really want to quit smoking but I think he does now! And he dropped from a pack of ciggaretes a day down to 4 yesterday :) I was so happy and excited! Elder Boamorte is exactly obedient too which is amazing and it makes it a lot easier to have a companion that is willing to follow all the rules than a companion that doesn't follow all the rules. Right now, we don't really have any other gators besides Monroe and Michelle! Pray for me that I will be able to sign and understand what she signs as well too please?? I need help with that!

Elder Wheeler in my apartment! I get along with him really well! He is hilarious! And, he is my District Leader. But anyways, he is training a new missionary! His name is Elder Vance and he is from Shelton, Washington :) CHECK THAT OUT!! Woooohooo! haha! He is a good Elder!

And it is wierd because now I am the designated driver this transfer and so I drive when we have the car and I haven't drove in forever so it is sort of wierd! I'm still trying to get used to driving again haha!

Anyways, I don't have much else that happened this week! Although I must say that I am a little upset that all the sudden you go to a BYU football game and basketball game NOW that I'm gone? REALLY? haha JK JK! I hope you have fun in UTAH! I'm glad you are going. That will be good. :)

Stockton: How is soccer going? Are you in basketball yet? Are you dunking it yet? I'm expecting you to!

Micah: WHATS UP!!! I heard you kissed a girl! In the play!! hahahahaha!

Also, I now weigh 180! I am doing good and working out! YES! You better be lifting them weights Stockton ;) And Teagen too!

I love you all and I miss you a tons! I hope you have an AMAZING day and week :) I know I will :) I'm preaching the gospel, how can I not be happy?

A BUNCH OF LOVE,

Elder Wise

STAYING IN PALATKA - November 7th, 2011

HI Family,

 

Do you want to hear about transfers?? HUH? HUH? HUH? Okay, well here we go. I need a drumb roll?

  

BADABABDDBADBADBADBADADBDABDABDABDBABDBABD

 

Im staying in Palatka and Elder Dyerly is being transferred! So there is the big news for the week. :)

I won't know who my companion is until wednesday.

 

Attention FAMILY AND FRIENDS: The next transfer happens right before Christmas - on the 23rd or 21st -  something like that. So if you are sending a Christmas package you might want to send it so it will be in Palatka by the time the transfers come just in case I get transferred right before!And.....if you are sending a Christmas package, something I would love is TIES :) (that is all missionaries can really change in their wardrobe, so they LOVE new ties!) And scriptures if you can afford it. Blue ones with silver pages and "Levi Connar Wise" on it, because the ones I got are starting to fall apart. That one time they got drenched in rain is making pages fall out and all that fun stuff : ( But if you can't afford it I will be fine! That isn't I need! And if you do get them make them the two separate ones with the Triple Comb and the Bible :)

 

Today we are going to be spending quite a bit of time cleaning :) OH YA! I will send you all a good little package at christmas time :) 

 

This week was a pretty good week. We found a couple less-active members that weren't on the records and we got two new gators! Oh btw, Anna wrote me a letter and said you haven't been updating the blog and she told me to get on you about that. So here is me getting on you :P haha (Thanks a LOT Anna!) 

 

So we found this lady named Ginger this week and she doesn't have much! She walks around bare foot and has a lot of birds though. She is really into God as a lot of people are in the south! We have been teaching her and she sort of almost just meets with us to tell us were wrong but we got her to finally committ to read the Book of Mormon and find out if its true. And if she really wants to know she will be a strong convert!

 

We also ran into another lady named Barbara and she is sort of a lonely lady! And it was really funny because the first lesson we had with her she kept telling Elder Dyerly and I that we should be married! She said it a bunch! Then said "Especially you, (pointing at me) you have beautiful dark eyes" and she couldn't stop talking about my eyes for a little bit and it started to get a little uncomfortable - haha! But, we taught her about the restoration and she said she would come to church but she didn't because she said she got the flu!

 

Monroe came to church again this sunday and we watched the Restoration in our class that we teach and we talked afterwards and something Elder Dyerly said I think made something click in his head and so I am really excited for him and we are going to see him tuesday! We also have been working with our Ward Council a lot more and so I think we should be getting a lot more referrals soon! The ward I am in is a smaller ward and they struggle to fill all the callings they need.

 

Christine is really hard to get ahold of all the sudden and I don't really know what is going on! Then Mindy isnt keeping her commitments to read the Book of Mormon. :(

 

So I did my Gator Update without really doing the Gator Update this week! Sorry :( But, Tamara is doing really really well! She loves her calling and just keeps improving and improving! She is amazing! She is definitely the #1 success so far on my mission!

 

The work is definitely moving along here in Florida! I am having an amazing time! And I decided that I am going to start sharing spiritual messages at the end of my emails!

 

Today I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Alma! I love the story of Ammonihah! Alma goes into Ammonihah preaching of their wickedness and they kick him out and reject him! And Alma is walking away pretty rejected and sad because they wouldn't harken unto his words! Then the angel appears to him and sais hey, go back there! So he does and he meets Amulek! And Amulek had seen an angel that told him to go back to his house and he would meet a prophet and he should feed him! And he did and met Alma! And then they started preaching and a good amount of people accepted there words and a lot didn't! And a man named Zeezrom contends with Alma and Amulek and Alma and Amulek confounded him! And people took Alma and Amulek and cast him into prison! And Zeezrom tried to help them but he couldn't and became sick because of his wickedness! Then Alma and Amulek broke the chains by the power of God and caused the prison to collapse and killed all the gaurds! And then Alma and Amulek went to Shilam i think? And Zeezrom was there and was very ill and Alma healed him! And Zeezrom began to preach and that is where I am at! And I love this story because no matter how much I get rejected as a full time missionary or how much you all get rejected in your missionary efforts and no matter how down we get! We still have God with us and on our side! And any man who contends with us will be confounded! It is incredible that when a Baptist will try to contend with me. I just have to simply speek simple doctrine and they become confounded! We cannot be confound if we stick to the principles of Christ's gospel! I also love how because Alma preached simple doctrine and condounded Zeezrom who was a crafty lawyer in the ways of man and he became converted and is now preaching the gospel! It just reminded me of hope and how hard work and following the spirit will always bring success! And that has really helped me!

 

Anyways, I love you all! I can't wait to hear from you next week! And I hope you have a great week :)

 

With a BUNCH OF LOVE,

Elder Wise

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! - October 31st, 2011

Dear Family,

 

Thank you for G and G's address. I will write them today! Happy Halloween :) Hope you all have fun tonight doing whatever you will be doing!

 

Biz:

I got both packages Wednesday. Thank you so much! I loved the Fudge Jumbles and the Timber shorts :) And everything in there! The journal and all that stuff! It was good! The pants fit really well. I like them a lot and the belt too. Thank you bunches!

Well, we get transfer calls this weekend! The rumor going around is that Elder Dyerly is getting transfered. So I probably will be staying but weird things have happened before so we will see!

 

This week we reactivated Tamara :) WOOOOO!! She is doing incredible! She got that calling of being a Nursery teacher and she loves it! She is doing incredible and we are working on her son and some girl that lives with them. She is on fire! It is so amazing! She is an absolutetly incredible person. When I leave this area I will give Tamara your email address okay? So you can help her! We just arent supposed to give out personal info while we are in the area.

 

Gator Update:

Monroe: He came to church again this week. He still has the same struggles with smoking.

 

Matt: He came to church this week which was really good. We still have a hard time meeting with him though.

 

Christine: We couldn't meet with her this week either but we have an appointment for tomorrow.

 

Mindy: She really understands the importance of reading and praying. She really wants to know the truth too and I am really excited for her because she will be a great member!

 

I gave a talk in church this last Sunday. I talked about the Plan of Salvation and tied it into missionary work by saying others don't know about it, a lot of people think that there is no life or they don't understand why they are here. They are scared and we need to help them. Then Elder Dyerly gave a really good talk on application of principles and it was really good. Elder Dyerly is really smart so he makes a lot of people think. Then the Bishop gave a talk and it was also very good. It was a great sacrament meeting. I still dislike giving talks :P

 

Mom, I am really sorry to hear about Bart :( (my cousin Bart committed suicide on October 25th. This is the 3rd suicide in my Aunt Gloria's family in less than a year. It is really a difficult time in my Aunt's family.) That is really sad. I will keep you and all of Bart's family in my prayers. I don't really remember him though. It makes me sad when I hear about things like that though because it makes me think about how miserable a person would have to be to do that and I just wish I could help them in anyway possible. If they just knew how important they are to God and to other people too. It is just really sad. I wish the best for Bart though.

 

Anyways, I am out of time but I love you all a bunch and I hope you have a wonderful halloween and an amazing week and I will talk to all of you next week! Love you all a bunch.

 

Love,

Elder Wise

GUESS WHO'S GIVING A TALK NEXT WEEK? - October 24th, 2011

Dear Family,

Mom, I think you and I get sick at the same time a lot for some reason. So if you dont get sick, I won't get sick - so don't get sick ;) haha

Well, I am glad to hear Stockton is dominating in soccer and that Micah enjoyed the dance :) And tell Grandma and Grandpa Thank you sooooo much.

Gator Update:

1. Monroe- We are trying to keep Monroe going but he is starting to not progress at all because he just doesn't have a desire to quite smoking : (

2. Mindy- We picked her up from our former investigator binder. She seems really promising and we are meeting with her again Wednesday :)

3. Christine- We weren't able to meet with her this week unfortunatly. I really don't know how much she understands about authority either.

4. Matt- He doesn't have much of a desire. I think he believes its true but he just want come to church.

The miracle tracting I told you about last week was actually in another area just barely we found out. So the 1st ward Elders are teaching them. We are just trying to remain positive and have lots of faith. It has been a little rough. But one thing that helps me stay positive is the fact that we are going to have 2 re-activations next week :) Tamara is all healthy again and came to church and she got a calling :) I think a lot of her problem was that she didn't feel needed but now she does with the calling and she is so excited. She is a nursery advisor and she is going to start teaching primary in a couple months when she feels more confident :) She is really amazing, and her mom who is about 70 is coming with her too. They both have a goal to go to the temple. I am really really excited for them. They both have such a strong desire to get back on the right path. They are amazing! I think a lot of future baptisms will come from her too :) She has a couple friends she is working on.

We also have a man in his twenties who has been coming to church with his Grandma and has been bringing his mom too! So we are going to start working with him soon. He is going to be a solid baptism :) He is a really nice guy too!

So success is happening here, but it just has been hard because Elder Dyerly and I are working our tails off and working smart too. The entire mission is seeing a bunch of miracles! We have been having 50-60 baptisms a month and every companionship in our district has had at least 2 baptisms this month except us. So it is really confusing but we are having success :)

I love this area too. Everyone here is very loving and really love the missionaries. It is a great place to be. I really love it. The sacrement this week was really good. It was the primary sacrament and they did a great job. Guess who is speaking next week? Your son and brother is! So wish me luck. They are letting me chose what to talk on and I am thinking the Plan of Salvation, but that might change. We will see how I feel.

Hopefully I will get my package this week :) I love you all. I miss you a bunch and thank you for supporting me!

Hope you get feeling better Mom :)

Love,

Elder Wise

USING THE ASL SKILLS! - October 17, 2011

Dear Family,

It sounds like last week was a BLAST! Wish I could have been there! But I'm doing something important :)

That is so crazy that David Huckvale is coming to my mission! I might just have to let President Barry know that and maybe I'll train him! That would be really funny! I would love that! Is David English or spanish speaking?

Of course Seth is going to Brazil! Who doesn't?

Well, this week was a pretty dang good week! Although, Elder Riggs got his bike stolen and he had it locked up? Some kid cut his lock up with wire cutters for two other kids to steal it. And the kid who cut the bike loose was just sitting next to the bikes with the wire cutters in his hand when they came back? It was really weird?

We contacted into a deaf man this week :) I was able to use a little bit of sign language but I'm a little rusty! Then we had two amazing miracles on saturday. We decided to tract in the morning and we tracted into this house with a bunch of kids running around. We asked them if their parents were home and they said no. And then we asked them if they would be interested in a message about Jesus Christ! And they said their parents would be. They told us to come back at 5! Then we continued tracting and ran into a man who told us to come back later because he is busy right now. And we asked him if 5:30ish would be good and he said yes.

So at 5 we biked on over to the house with a bunch of kids. Their Dad came out and his name was Corey and he comitted to Read the Book of Mormon and Pray about it and we set up a return appointment :) The man was really really open.

And then we went over to the other man's place. His name is George. He wasn't there but we talked to his wife and she said that he was really bumbed because he got called into work and before we had knocked he was looking into our church and planning on attending it. And that he recognized that we were sent from God and he is really excited to talk to us. So we got a return appointment for him as well!

So there are some incredible things happening here in Florida! When I first came into the mission our retention rate was 52%! Guess what it is now? 71%! 2 out of every three baptisms we have had in the last year are still active! That is phenomenal! The mission is doing incredible and we have 500 baptisms so far this year! I love it here!

Gator Update:

Monroe: He was out of town this week so we couldn't really meet with him.

Matt: He is struggling to keep his appointments.

Christine: She is reading the Book of Mormon. She really loves her pastor though which is making it hard.

Carlos: He is out of town too :P

Corey and Tina: Very hard to catch. Didn't see them this week!

That is basically it for this week. We had a lot of miracles and we are super excited for this next week! It is going to be wonderful. This week was sort of rough but next week really should be full of miracles and full of the spirit :) It is going to be great! So expect a great email next week! :)

I wish I could have gone to that game with you! Btw, I can't watch that video! But if you send it in the package I probably can! Thank you so much for the package that is coming :) haha! Love you!

Elder Wise

This is the JAX South Zone with Elder Malm - the general authority that Levi was so impressed by! Elder Wise is back center - with that BIG GRIN!

I'M DOING PRETTY IMPORTANT WORK! - October 10th, 2011

Dear Family,

Yes, It has been pouring down over here the last couple days! Remember that packit jackit! It works pretty well! :)

Dad, it is really funny about the Elders being brave to tract in the boonies and man up against the dogs and all! Because most everywhere I have served so far is just country! And I am in the south! EVERYONE has pit bulls and bull dogs and have shot guns and are crazy southern hill billy's! haha! Not exactly true! There are a lot of amazing people here! But we do a lot of country tracting!

And I am very jealous! I want to go to the BYU game :) Too bad I can't! I'm doing some pretty important work haha :) 

(here is a little photo for Levi - we wish he could have been with us, but like he said, he is kind of busy doing more important work! :) MWAH!) 

Anyways, this week has been good! We tracted a lot more and we got some good new gators :)

GATOR UPDATE:

Monroe: Same problems as before with him. I'm beginning to think that he might be an eternal gator! No, he will get baptized! He just has to get a desire to quit smoking!

Matt: Matt didn't make it to church :( It is sort of hard to get him to solidly commit and do something! We have lessons with him and Monroe together and I want to get them seperate! Hopefully we can do that!

Corey and Tina: We tracted into these two! Tina is Corey's mom and we had a short lesson with them and committed them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! We are meeting with them tomorrow!

Carlos: We tracted into Carlos and he is so amazing! He is really sincere and really wants to find truth! He just moved from New York!

Tamara quit smoking this week which was amazing :) But she was put in the hospital for three days because she got Salmonella poisoning :P NOT GOOD! She is all good now though :)

I heard Seth got his mission call but I dont know where yet? Where is he going?

Anyways, I love you and I hope you have an amazing week with Teagen :) Tell him I miss him and love him!! You should make a picture of me on a poster and bring it with you to Tish's game :) That would be funny!

I love yall! I pray for yall constantly! :) I miss you very much :) Mom. get feeling better :)

Love you :)

Love

Elder Wise

NOTE: Elder Wise Address

Apparently his address has been wrong. He is in apt #2, not #4. I have changed it on the blog. If you are writing him, please take note and be sure you are addressing his mail to apt. #2.

UNDER COVER COP!? - October 3, 2011

Dear Family,

Well, this week was wonderful! I have improved so much! Like you said mom, Charity really is the key to everything. And figuring out how to constantly keep that is the hardest part. But I feel like I have realized the power and authority I have as a missionary and the HUGE responsibility that comes along with it. It is amazing!

General Conference was absolutely incredible! I learned so much! I wish I had my study journal with me so I could tell you who gave the talks I liked but I don't :( I really liked that mountain one you were talking about Mom and how he was talking about taking baby steps up that mountain and then you can turn around and look how far you have come and then keep on chugging along even though it is hard. It is worth it. I also liked that talk on the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. It is so big!

I haven't got to see all of priesthood session yet. It cut out on us at the church : ( It was a big bummer. But I did get to hear a little bit of Elder Hollands talk. Mom, Please serve a mission with Dad in the future? We need so many more people serving missions to get into China and other places in the world! We absolutely need more! And I know you would be an absolutely wonderful missionary :)

I could probably talk for two hours about what I learned at General Conference but unfortunately I don't have time to. haha! Something interesting, Palatka has papermills :) Reminds me of home :) haha. It is a big drug dealing town too :/ not so good :P

Funny Story: I was on a trade-off with Elder Wheeler and we knocked on this one door and a truck pulled up behind us. I looked back and it was just sitting there with the windows rolled up. At first I thought it was the owner but they weren't rolling the window down. So then I just ignored it. Then someone in the truck said "HEY, come here." We turned around and it was an undercover cop. He asked us what we were doing and we said sharing a message about our Savior Jesus Christ! And then he said "you don't need to be knocking on that door. That is a dope house" And I am pretty sure he thought we were trying to buy some dope or something? So he said " I need Jesus right now, share your message with me" And we started sharing our message with him very boldy and powerfully and I felt the spirit really strong and we asked the man if there was a time we could share more of our message with him. He then said "uh uh uh well, I live in Interlachen" We then said "Wonderful, we have two fantastic missionaries over there who would love to visit you :)" Then he said " uh uh uh, Well, do you have a card?" So we just gave him a mormon.org card and he drove off. I just thought it was a funny yet powerful experience!

Gator Update:

Monroe: He came to 1 session of General Conference. He is still struggling with smoking! Still working with him.

Matt: He also came to 1 session and it seemed like he really liked it and he quit smoking and he is reading the book of mormon. I am really excited for him :)

They are basically the only people we are teaching : ( We are going to be doing a lot of tracting and finding this week!

We have still been working a lot with Tamara! I actually bore my testimony to her yesterday about how much going to church can help and I sort of told her that you were struggling a little bit and missionaries brought you back and now you are doing some incredible things in the church and I testified to her that I can see how much work she could do for the Lord and I told her the Lord needs her! I love the spirit! It feels amazing :)

Anyways, I got a email from Bishop and I had to email president and so i don't have as much time today but i love you all very much!

And tell Micah way to go :) I bet Mr. Sawyer loves him haha! Tell Mr. Sawyer I say hi :)

Love ya'll very much,

Elder Wise

GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEK - Tuesday, September 26th, 2011

Dear Family,

This week has been a good week but also boring! Just because I sat around and did nothing but clean for a couple days because Elder Dyerly got sick :P haha! (did Levi say he CLEANED??? YES! :) 

Could you also send ties in that package?? :) I love ties :) Could I also get another journal? The same red one I got except I want to get the blue one? for studying?? :) THANKS

Well, transfer information! So, I am staying in Palatka, and my companion is staying and he got released from being District Leader so now we are just a normal companionship! And I live in an apartment. Most everyone in our mission is in an apartment! I live with 3 other missionaries! There is Elder Dyerly (my companion), Elder Wheeler (The New District Leader and he is really funny and has been out 17 months and he is pretty much one of the best missionaries I have seen) and Elder Riggs (he has been out a transfer longer).

We have a cockroach problem right now, so we actually just bombed our place and are hoping to not have that problem anymore :) haha! Oh and the bike has been really good by the way! I love it! And, Elder Dyerly and Elder Wheeler both think I would be a really good trainer :/ I dont know about that! (I'm sure he would too!!) But, they said they recommended me as a trainer! MEH! (I think he loves that...and playing it off! What a great opportunity!) So, apparently they think I will be training next transfer because Elder Dyerly has been in this area for 6 months at the end of this next transfer! So any advice on how I can prepare to train someone? Because I don't think I know enough yet to do that!

ANYWAYS,

GATOR UPDATE :) :

Monroe: He is starting to understand authority a little bit! He has been coming to church every Sunday which is really good! If we can get him to stop smoking he could get baptized this weekend and he wants to be baptized. He just needs to stop smoking! SO PLEASE PRAY HE WILL HAVE THE DESIRE TO NOT SMOKE :) I really want him to get baptized soon :)

Matt: Matt seems like he wants to know if its true and he is reading the Book of Mormon but he isn't coming to church! I hope he will come this weekend for General Conference :) I am soooo excited for that :)

Tamara: Tamara is the less-active. She came to church this sunday which I was really excited for! It was so amazing! They had this Young Women special this sunday and they did an amazing job!

We are struggling with the amount of gators right now. But we will find a lot this week :) So we had another less active besides Tamara come and his name is Wayne and he brought his wife who is not a member and she started crying like crazy during sacrement so I really hope we can make something come out of that!

And a Members grandson has been coming for a couple months and we are trying to set up an appointment with him too! We already know he wants to be baptized it is just basically finding time to sit down and go throught the lessons!

This area is going in such a good direction! I am so excited for it. We are getting a lot of less-actives to come back and will hopefully have some baptisms coming up :) It is really good! General Conference is this weekend and we get an extended curfew Saturday night because priesthood session goes till 10 for us :) Oh ya, haha! I can't wait though, I have so many questions I am hoping to have answered :)

We are also having a priesthood cookout from 6:30 to 8:00 which will be incredible because we are having a less active we have been working with for FOREVER and they are going to another church because they don't feel worthy to come to ours and they know the church is true. But they said they would come to the dinner and stay for priesthood session :) So that will be amazing! I am expecting big miracles this week with General Conference :) OH YA!

And wow, I have been studying charity and love, and listening all week this week and it has made everything so amazing! I feel so much more love and listening really will help a lot with following the spirit! It is incredible! I would say love and listening are the two most important characteristics in missionary work!  

I am having a great time and I am doing really really well :) I love you all so much! Only 21 months left ;) haha! I am glad I got a lot of time left :) Elder Wheeler gets really upset sometimes because he is realizing he only has 3 transfers left :( I have a lot more :) hehe!

I love you all! Keep being amazing! STOCKTON AND MICAH, EMAIL ME :) STOCKTON, tell me how you are dominating :) Micah, tell me how everyone stares at your amazingness as you march around that track leading that massive Camas High School Band!

Love you very much!

Elder Wise

JESUS PEOPLE - Monday, September 19th, 2011

Dear Family,

This week has been a great week! This transfer is flying by though :( We are getting transfer calls this saturday and transfers happen September 28th! 

I have no business for you this week other than I can't wait to get your package :)

This week we also had a lot of trade offs so it has been really crazy! President Barry is really making a big push to have everyone be exactly obedient so we can be worthy to have the spirit with us when we teach and when we do that we will find more people! I can't tell you how amazing President Barry is! I am so glad he will be my Mission President until the last 2 weeks of my mission :P That  is strange but I will have a new president for 2 weeks! haha!

Anyways,

GATOR UPDATE:

Monroe: Monroe is still coming to church and he is doing really well! He is also reading the Book of Mormon! The only the he doesn't understand is that we are the only church who has the authority to baptize and everything! He thinks that a really good preacher who is really close to God is probably authorized by God to do baptism's! But we are working with him on that!

Matt: We gave Monroe a church tour this week and he randomly brought his friend Matt and we gave them a church tour and taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized and he accepted! He didn't come to church yesterday though so we will have to figure that out!

Lee: Elder Dyerly and I tracted into her but I was on a trade off for the lesson they taught her! So I dont know much but I know that she really liked what we taught and she fed them Crab! DANG!! Oh well, I missed out but someone took us out to Chilli's so it was okay :) haha

Chantra: We are still trying to work with her! She is a little difficult because she is hard to catch! But hopefully we can catch her soon!

Tamyra: Tamyra is a less active so she isn't really a gator! But she is amazing and a great woman! And she is reading the Book of Mormon and she is saying she will come to church but she doesn't come!

Mom, sometimes I wish you were here because I feel like you could knock a lot of sense into a lot of our gators and less actives we are working with like Tamyra! haha! (sometimes I wish I could be there too! I LOVE sharing the gospel and how it has changed my life and the happiness it has brought - when I was searching for it in all the wrong places!) 

I think it is really funny how in the South! Everyone is Baptist! Some catholics but not much! And there are three types of baptists! One is the ones that will be really nice to you and thank you for doing such great work and for going around talking about Jesus! (They call us Jesus People sometimes btw) Then there are the ones who just shut the doors in our face! Then there are the ones who tell us we are going to hell and that we are terrible people and they call themselves Bible Thumping Baptists! And they put out a bunch of non-sense to the public! There is so much more "anti" stuff about Jesus Christ's church than I thought there was! It is absolutely ridiculous and it just makes me sad : ( And we will talk to people and ask them if they have read the Book of Mormon and they will say, "Yes"! And we say, "Really? How did you like it?"  Then they would say it talks too much about Joseph Smith, you worship Joseph Smith! And I just think to myself 1. It  doesn't  talk about Joseph Smith at all except in the introduction! 2. I feel sad because they are so close minded! :(

And then you find someone who is willing to read and it makes it all worth it and I love this work! It is incredible!

Anyways, I love you all a bunch! I miss you! Thank you for supporting me! LOVE YOU! 

Elder Wise

SMILES - Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Dear Family,

Sorry I forgot to tell you in the last email that we were having Elder Per G. Malm speak to us Monday (yesterday) so our P-Shift (Elder Dyerly and I call it that because it is only 8 hours... not a full day :) ) was switched to today :)!

Well, this week has been absolutely incredible and painful and LOONG!!! I will start off with the Gator Update'

GATOR UPDATE:

Monroe: Monroe came to steak conference where Elder Per G. Malm also talked and he really really liked it! We are tryng to get him motivated to quit smoking! He wants to get baptized but he just doesn't have that drive to quit smoking! So we are working on that!

Dwayne: Dwayne is a referral from a member in Jacksonville! He is a really nice guy! He says he hopes the Book of Mormon is true but he hasn't done much reading! And reading the Book of Mormon is HUGE!! It is key to conversion!

Chantre: Chantre is hard to get a hold of! High School children are RIDICULOUS :P haha But she is way awesome and really sincere! We shoud be setting a baptismal date with her this week!

Cathy: She moved :( But we are sending missionaries to her! :)

We have a lot of referrals right now :) It is really good! And we should have an amazing week this week :) We have a lot of SOLID referrals to contact!

We had a lot of trade-offs this week because Elder Dyerly has to evaluate every missionary in our district! So I have not been in my area very much this week which made it interesting! And I went to a spanish area on a trade off! That was a long day! I basically just followed a Spanish missionary around and did nothing because I couldn't understand anything :P NOT FUN! haha!

Let me tell you, Elder Malm speaking to us yesterday is exactly what I needed! I have been so down this transfer and not as spiritual as I would have liked to have been but I am on the upend now :) I think I finally understand how to teach by the spirit now :) It is amazing! Elder Malm said, "When you are proselyting do not outrun the spirit! The spirit is in no rush! You shouldn't be either! When we take the lesson slow it allows the spirit to dwell in the lesson which is the most powerful thing you can do as a missionary!" He went on to talk about how our jobs as a missionary in a lesson is to create an envirement where the Holy Ghost can work his magic! And also something I learned through revelation that Elder Malm did not say was that as we have Charity and are pure in our thoughts and completely consencrate ourselves we will have the spirit to be with us and that is what makes an AMAZING missionary! He also said "A missionary who does not follow the spirit but relies on his own power is performing priestcraft" BAM!! That was a throw down statement! 

I learned so much at that Zone Conference yesterday I can't even tell you all of it! I have never felt the spirit so strong! And I have felt the spirit ever since I left that conference! Something I have been working on a lot lately is having charity and love and being able to have the spirit to be with me! And to smile because I have been smiling a lot less lately because this work is discouraging if we don't have the right mindset! And I haven't had the right mindset lately! But the last couple days I have been Mr. Smiles :) I'm myself again :) And I like it!!haha! One thing he spoke about that also stood out to me, he drew a circle on the Chalk Board and a little circle in the center so it was sort of like a target! Then he said a lot of times we try to look and see what can we do? We look to see how far we can go and still be okay! We look for the grey area! But what is our purpose while we are here on earth?? There are a couple reasons:

1. To gain a physicaly body

2. To grow and to become like our Heavenly Father!

I guess they are all in one actually because in order to become like our Heavenly Father we need to gain a physical body! So our main purpose of being here is to become like Heavenly Father!

WHY DO WE LOOK FOR THE GREY AREA?????? We should be striving to do our best and become like Heavenly Father!  WE SHOULD NOT be trying to go as far as we can away from the gospel without breaking the commandments! We should be trying to go to the center of the circle and not looking outside of the circle! So our focus should be on What can I do to become more like Heavenly father? and not Am I aloud to workout just a little bit on sunday? Would Jesus Christ do that? NO! So don't do it!

Elder Malm is absolutely amazing and he will be an apostle someday! Man, I have realized this last week that I don't want to ever go home because that makes it a lot harder to be closer to the spirit because there are so many other things you can focus on! I am only aloud to focus on getting close to the spirit WHICH IS AMAZING!! I LOVE being out here so much!

Mom and Dad, I love you so much! Thank you for doing everything you do! You have no idea how grateful I am for you! You are incredible people!!!! And AMAZING examples! I am so glad you are my parents! You are absolutetly INCREDIBLE!! I am so blessed and like I said before! I don't know why a punk like me should be as blessed as I am? (or why parents like us would be blessed with such amazing young men as children! :) 

I love you all and my p-shift will be on monday next week!

Only 3 months untill I get to talk to you!! :) BOO YA!! haha!

Love, Elder Wise

SOGGY SCRIPTURES - Monday, September 5th, 2011

Dear Family,

Unfortunate! I was biking with my scriptures in my backpack and it poured on us and got my scrips wet :P and they are still usable. I don't want to ask you to buy new ones! But I also don't like how I marked them! So I am saving up money to buy new ones! I want to get the blue ones!

The bike is great! It took awhile to get it but it works wonderful!

Ya, I was sort of scared about Hurricane Irene! Glad it missed me! I also heard about the storms that are supposed to turn into a hurricane?? I don't really know any details about it yet? I did hear there are probably going to be at least 2 or 3 more hurricane threats :P GREAT!!

Anyways, GO BYU!! That is awesome! Their defense STUNK last year! Im glad to hear they are doing good! And I heard we had a good running back! I did not know his last name was Alisa though! haha! That is really funny!

I hear all about the Gators here! OH BOY!!! BIG GATOR FANS DOWN HERE!! or Seminole fans or Georgia fans!! But mainly Gator fans! They don't like BYU very much here! haha!! It is tough because I love to talk smack as you all know!! (big surprise! LOL) But I can't do that as a missionary! haha! It has been hard not to and it requires a lot of patience to withhold my opinion so I don't offend anyone!! BUT GO BYU!! I hope they beat Texas :)

We have been working a lot with this lady named Tamyra! She is less active but a super awesome lady! We read the book of Mormon with her a couple days ago and she started crying and she said I am definitely coming to church this week! IT WAS GREAT! BUT she didn't come to church :( We don't know why yet! But we are working with her!

Gator Update:

Monroe: Monroe had something come up sunday and couldn't make it to church! But he is a super solid and nice guy!! His baptismal date is on the 17th :)

Antawn: We still are just trying to work out kinks with him! We just are keep meeting him and answering his questions! He will take more time!

Chantra: We tracted into her last week! She is 15! And she is super open and we sat down with her the first time this week and shared the restoration and she committed to reading the book of mormon and to pray about it and to pray about whether joseph smith! When we were teaching the lesson she was listening super intensly so we have high hopes for her! And we are hoping to get her family involved in the lesson!

Dwayne: We haven't sat down and talked with him yet! But we got a referral from a member who lives up in Jacksonville to go visit one of his friends named Dwayne! So we did yesterday and he is really open! And he said it made sense that Jesus Christ would come to the Americas so we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read and we are meeting with him tomorrow! We also have high hopes for him!!!

Casie: She has taken lessons before! She is Tamyra's daughter and she had a big problem with the missionaries who taught her before but she is open to it again and so we are going back to visit her tomorrow! Hopefully we can resolve those concerns!

Yesterday was a great day! We had a lot of success!! This week was just a really good week! We had a lot of success! We have had a couple miracle gators lately! Like Dwayne and Monroe! It has been AMAZING!!

Dad, you are very right about the Preach My Gospel - Chapter 8 - Finding People! It is so important to find by the spirit! In every single one of my personal prayers and our companionship prayers we pray to have the spirit with us in lessons and when we are trying to find people! We try to follow every random thought we have! And we try to look for the random thoughts! Like just a random thought! "We should go knock that house!" Just randomly! DONT LET THAT PASS!! DO IT!! That is a prompting from the Spirit! Following the spirit when Finding is HUGE!! It truly is! Working with members is a hard thing! It is just different with every ward I guess! It is a wierd thing!

Anyways, I have to go! I love you all very much! The work is progressing really where here and I am excited for what is coming up :) I love you all!!!

Love

Elder Wise

P.S. HAPPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MICAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! :) LOVE YOU MICAH HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!!

P.S.S. Micah and Stockton!! You better both email me next week :) LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Elder Wise :)

Monday, August 29th, 2011 - "IRENE just missed us!"

Dear Family,

 

I have a funny story! There is a brother here named Josh Jensen! He served in the Florida Jacksonville Mission, met a girl his last transfer, and he came back and married her! I asked him when he served and he said 06-08! And that was about when Zach Childers served here! (and Teagen, but he was somewhere else)! So I asked him if he knew Zach Childers! They came out togethor! They were in the MTC togethor and everything! So I thought that was pretty cool! Tell Seth about that :)

 

Mom, I am so impressed with you helping that man! (I ran Hood to Coast and a man collapsed in front of me and I had the opportunity to stop and help and use my first aid skills. It's amazing how good it can make you feel when you are able to help someone!) I don't know what I would do in that situation!! And I LOVE how you were thinking about me while you ran :) I appreciate it! My companion is a facebook missionary! Btw his name is Elder Dyerly, not Dylerly :) I am aloud to look at that blogspot you make for me now, I just can't post anything, only look! :) Anyways, while he is on facebook! I typically get on mormon.org and when I miss you, which is all the time, I look up your profile and it always makes me feel better :) haha!

 

This week was interesting with Hurricane Irene heading towards us! At first, the eye of Irene was predicted to go right through Palatka!! That would have been bad! I was excited to get hit at first because it was only a 2! Then it grew like crazy and they had us preparing emergency kits and everything! Then I started getting scared! I only want to go through a small one! Then we found out we weren't going to get hit! It was a relief! On the day it passed by us though there was a lot of rain and really intense winds!! I don't want to know what it is like to go through the actual hurricane!

 

Well, I have a miracle I want to share with ya'll! I can't remember if I shared this one yet or not! We decided to go tract in this place that was way out there and hadn't been knocked in awhile! So we did, and we found two new gators and we got 6 or so return appointments! It was amazing!

 

The other miracle is that a member of our ward came up to us and her son has been coming to church but is not a member! We thought he was a member because he has been coming for so long?? But he isn't! Anyways, he is interested in being baptized!! So we have an appointment with him this week! :)

 

Gator Update:

Antawn: He is a former-gator and we visited him and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and he has a lot of really good questions! He seems really sincere in his search for truth and I think that if he continues on the path he is going he will be baptized next month :)

Mary: We haven't had a chance to see Mary this week because we are out of miles! :( But we will see her when we have miles again because she lives out in Hastings! Mary really wants to come to church though! And we are trying to find someone who can give her a ride!

 

Cathy: We are trying to catch up with her and give her a restoration dvd but we are having a hard time catching her!

 

We are trying to work with members a lot right now! So a lot of our time is spent with members trying to uplift them to do missionary work! And we spend a lot of time trying to reactivate less active members! Our mission is going in an AMAZING DIRECTION!! Our mission had 54 baptisms this month! That is one off of the record for our mission all-time! We are having HUGE success! I can't wait to see where we go next :)

 

I cannot tell you how much I have already grown in 2 1/2 months! It is incredible! And I think the biggest way I have grown is realizing how blessed i have been in life! It has been AMAZING! I miss home a lot! Every missionary does! Any missionary who says they don't miss home is lying! I miss all of you and all of my friends A LOT! But the happiness I have doing the work I am doing is making all of that pain of missing everyone okay! I can deal with it because of all the miracles! And it makes it so I even want to be here!

 

I love my family and friends so much! I appreciate everything you all do for me! I am so excited to be in thhis work! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I miss all of you!

 

I love you very very much! I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!

 

EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY

 

p.s. I will definatly keep Tommy in my prayers!!!

p.s.s. Keep me updated on the BYU football team :) I have to know how they are doing :) And the Jazz! Let me know what is going on with them :)

Love,

Elder Wise

Update - and From the Editor

Readers - esp Elder Wise's friends and family - please feel free to leave comments by clicking on "comments" below any post. You can leave them for Levi or his family on this blog! I will be printing this blog to a book after the completion of his mission, so it will be fun to have some of your comments!

Also, hurricane IRENE has changed course and is no longer a major threat to Florida, but has moved Northward and is threatening S. Carolina and N. Carolina. Please keep the people in those areas in your prayers.

Thank you for all your love and support for Elder Wise and his companions and missionaries around the world! Please pray for him, his companions and those he is teaching!

Thank you!

August 22nd, 2011- "There's a HURRICANE COMING!!!!"

Dear family,

CRAZY NEWS: There is a hurricane headed towards the city I am in! Which is Palatka by the way! I will give you my address in a second! It is Hurricane Irene and is supposed to be a 3! The church will take care of us though! If it is dangerous at all they will pull us out immediatly!! They have been sending us texts constantly updating us about the Hurricane! I am so excited!! I really want to be in a hurricane :)

Anyways, Business:

Address:

Elder Levi Wise

412 Mission Road Unit #2

Palatka, FL 32177

The bike I got is new! Just because I tried to get a bike from a missionary going home! But they were all 5' 6" NO JOKE!! And so I couldn't get one from them! And I tried to get a used bike at the Shop I went to but they said they didn't have any that had a big enough frame for me :P And that is the only one in the area! so I had to get a new bike! It is a hybrid bike like the one back home that is meant for road and trail! Because there are a lot of sand roads in our mission! I had to buy a helmet and reflectors and lights and a bike lock which costed me the rest! And also shipping cost! But the guy tried to get me to buy the same bike but one shocks and I said no because I personally don't think that is worth it! I thought you would be proud of me for that one dad :)

Anyways, my area is basically a hick town! It is awesome though! I like the area and my companion is Elder Dyerly and he is from Michigan! He is a good missionary and he is a genius! He is really smart and just basically knows a lot! haha! He is cool! And we have a car share so every other day I have a car and then the other days I am biking!

Advice for Mom (for Hood to Coast): On leg 6 it is really easy (especially for a stupid high school distance runner) to go out really hard on the second run because it is flat and not to long! And to take it pretty easy on the first run because it is longer than it seems! And the last run shows that it isnt too hilly and not to hard! But I am here to tell you that it is brutal and if you have burnt yourself out you will get passed by a girl with a pink tutu :P haha! GOOD LUCK :)

GATOR UPDATE:

Moses: Moses is an old guy who really wants to get baptized! He has been getting taught for awhile and hopefully we can get him baptized soon!

Willy: Willy is also an old guy who will take awhile but we are working with him and he is a super nice guy!

Cathy: She is an older lady who is on oxygen! She is interested religously! And we havent had the chance to really sit down with her! So we are hoping to be able to sit down with her soon!

Willy: This willy is an old blind man! We taught him the Restoration this week! And he accepted the invitation to be baptized but we dont have a specific date yet!

Mary: She is another old lady on oxygen and we met her this last week! We taught her the Restoration and she knows she needs to get back to church so our main focus is to get her to church and to be fellowshipped!

This area is a really old person area! And Elder Dyerly teaches different than I prefer to! But its okay! He teaches more socially. I think this area needs work though! It just needs to be more organized is the best way I can put it!

He is a great missionary though and I love him! We just have different styles of missionary work I would say! Anyways, I have a good story! We decided to go tracting in this area that is way out there and missionaries haven't been there in awhile! So we went and tracted this apartment! Throughout the apartment we got 2 new investigators and 6 return appointments!!! IT WAS SO AWESOME HAHA!!!

The area just hasn't been hit in a long time! So that was cool! And my companion is a facebook missionary so while he is on facebook! I get on Family History stuff and I have been working on some family history and trying to find people I can have you all take to the temple because we have no temple to go to here! So hopefully I cant get you some names :)

It is so depressing that we can't go to the temple! I really want to go to the temple and sit in the celestial room and just pray about where we should go and what we should do!! I feel like if I could do that we could get 100 NEW GATORS :O But we cant! :(

BIG NEWS: I called President Barry the other day and I asked him if my non member relative - Patrick, could come over and take me out to lunch! And I have got permisson from my mission president to do so! So if you could facebook Patrick and tell him that he can! And give him my number! MOM, do not call me! Just give it to patrick OKAY ;) I LOVE YOU THOUGH!! I wish you could call me!! (I wish I could too...but I won't! It would be too hard on BOTH of us!) 

And just tell him to ask for Elder Wise and we can arrange something up for him to take us out to lunch or dinner or something!!

I hope you are all doing well and I love you very much!! Micah, go dominate that band :) And stockton! In the words of the Mexican Soccer Channel " GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! :) haha

I love you all very much! Thank you so much for supporting me! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Elder Wise

August 15th, 2011- "Getting Transferred"

Dear Family,

It sounds like it has been a crazy week!

Business:

We got transfer calls Saturday and I know I am going to be transfered! Transfers happen on wednesday! So I need money by Wednesday please! And I need a bike, helmet, bike lock, and flashing reflectors, and a light that i can turn on in the front! Those are all requirements! So you all decide how much that would cost! I really have no clue how I can get a used bike though! I will try as hard as I can! Or I will get as cheap as i can at a bike shop! But I need it by Wednesday! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! My guess, is the bike will be about 300 hopefully.. I don't know about the other stuff!

The 80 bucks dad owes me can definatly go towards the bike! Basically at this moment I dont think ya'll owe me anything! I probably owe you a million dollars! :) Thats how much you love me! And how greatful I am to be brought up in the church and to have a wonderful family!

Since I have been on my mission! I have realized how lucky I really have been in life! (emphasis added :) We have a nice house! Cars! A strong family! We know the truth of the Gospel! Great Friends! And here I see people who have messed up lives and live in super nasty trailers! And just struggle and struggle and struggle! It really makes me question why Heavenly Father has given me so many AMAZING blessings! And I need to share those blessings of knowing the truth! And really coming to know the truth of the gospel will lead you to all of the other blessings!

Well, I forgot to tell you but a couple of weeks ago we saw one of our gators get arrested! That was crazy!

Anyways, Elder Holland also never ended up happening! That was sad! But something came up I guess! Oh and Mom, if you want to send me a couple more ties with the Restoration church and the Plan of Salvation thing that would be awesome!

GATOR UPDATE:

Stephon: Stephon is a member referral from a kid who is about to go on his mission named Dustin! He just put in his papers! We shared the restoration with him and he said its like he already knew about it but didnt at the same time! haha! The spirit was so strong! He is going to start coming to church next sunday! I will probably be able to come back to this area for the baptism!

Bridget: We can't get ahold of her! Please pray that we will get in contact with her!

We found Melissa by the way! She is now taking lessons with other missionaries!

Verndale: He is WAY awesome! We found him tracting! He came to church this last sunday and he has way good desires! But he has some Chastity problems so he wont be baptized for awhile!

We dont have many gators right now :( We are working our tails off tracting though!

Well, I got attacked by a pit bull this week! Sort of! We knocked on this trailor door! And this Pit Bull was jumping up against the door! and no one answered so we started to walk away and the Pit Bull broke open the door and came straight for me! But I learned that when a dog comes after you, you just stand there, dont run! So I just stood there and it came up to me and just started sniffing me! I was so scared though haha!! But im okay!

I am so excited to be in a normal companionship because it will just be easier to speak up and I think I will learn a lot more! But transfers are wednesday and I dont know where but I know I am being transfered! So they might email you my address but if they dont! I will email you the address next week and tell you where I am at! I love you all very much! And mom and dad dont forget about the bike thing because that is pretty important haha! I love you all very much! And that truck story was funny :) It made me laugh ahaha!

I love ya'll and I hope you have a great week! Everyone here is getting ready to go to school already! How is that going for ya'll? I feel like I am getting a lot more confident and I am able to teach by the spirit a lot better! I love you all and I am praying for you :) GET THAT BOOK DONE ;)

Love,

Elder Wise