ARRIVING IN JAX

Levi arrives in Jacksonville and meets his TWO trainers! Two Zone Leaders - Elder Failner (on the left) and Elder Snow (in the middle). Levi looks SUPER excited, doesn't he? Well, at least we know he'll beat them in a game of basketball! LOL.

These are the three missionaries that arrived from the MTC together. Elder Wise, Elder Moore and Elder Bennion (Levi's MTC companion). This was taken at President Barry's home.

Pics from the MTC

Here are a few pics from the MTC! :) See more by clicking on his picasa link on the RIGHT hand side!!!

Elder White and Wise making "P's" for Portland (Elder White is also from Portland, OR).

Arriving in Jacksonville, FL - notice the WIDE LOAD sign on the truck with the shirtless man in back :) LOL

Elder Bennion and Elder Wise - at the infamous map at the MTC, pointing to their mission - JAX, FL

Elder Bennion is a fabulous musician. We have a video of him playing the piano! Here he is pictured playing his violin. He got special permission from Elder Ballard to bring it on his mission!

I LOVE THAT TAG!!!!

The heat is getting to Elder Wise :)

The iconic Provo temple with Mt. Timpanogos back drop! GORGEOUS! I miss it sometimes.

Mt. Timpanogos.

Elder Bennion and Elder Wise at the temple.

I have NO IDEA :) LOL

Their district.

Kathrine? He said this was a joke?

A cool pic Levi took.

What a handsome devil!

Some pics of the way Levi showed us how he is organizing some of his scripture study. I LOVE it! :)

"The DISTRICT"

The district with a teacher - featured in a WHITE name tag.

At the temple.

Elder White - who I think looks a bit like Ethan Plock! :) 

July 24th, 2011

Dear Family,

Everything has been amazing this last week!! It has been crazy! 

Guess WHAT?? The mission boundaries for my mission were extended the day I got here! We got an extra zone called the Savannah zone! So now we cover the entire Eastern Coast of Georgia and a little bit in South Carolina too! So I have the possibility of serving in 3 states!! So that's cool!

Okay, and here is the the GATOR update:

Shawn: He was confirmed yesterday and he is good to go! Last Sunday his dad needed him at the last minute and made him go with him to work! Shawn was really upset! But he is officially a member! :)

Lisa: She is still crazy and just needs to be more mentally stable! She tells us all the time how people who smoke will turn into birds who can't sing! And how a little forest next to her trailor will turn into a firery pit?? She says really strange things but it is understandable because of everything she has been through! And everyone deserves the gospel so we are trying to help her but it gets really interesting sometimes!!

Mark: Mark is in his 50's and he works at the prison here in Lake City! He is really interested! He even went and got a Book of Mormon on his OWN to read! WAY AMAZING!!! It is so awesome but we wasn't at church and we are trying to contact him but pray for him that his work schedule wiill allow him to attend church!

Stewart family: We dropped them this week :( They just don't want to switch churches! They are comfurtable with their's! So pray that there hearts will open up and they will realize this is the one true church!!

Rodney: We tracted into Rodney this week and he invited us in as soon as he saw us! It was really good! He believes the Book of Mormon is true but he struggles with setting a date to be baptized! He was going to come to church but his friend is in the hospital! So there isn't much you can do about that!

Melissa: Melissa she will come to church but never does! But we visited her yesterday and we talked to her and she says she is committed and she knows it doesn't seem like it because things keep coming up! So we invited her right then to go to the church and we would give her a little mini church tour! She came and we took her through and showed her all the pictured that were on the wall and the stories behind them! Then we went into the Chapel! We shared with her what happens there! Like the sacrament and all! And the importance of it! And she said she felt so homey and peaceful and she just really felt happy! We said that is the Holy Ghost! And we asked her what is the purpose of the holy ghost? and she said to tell you something is true! Then we read Moroni 10:5! Then she said "Well, show me where I am going to get baptized!" AND WE FREAKED OUT IN OUR MINDS HAHA not physically jumping around! But we were jumping around in our minds!! She is getting baptized August 14th!

This really is an amazing work! It is true!! And I can honestly say this is the BEST mission in the world! And I truly believe we have the BEST Mission President here!! Presidant Barry is AMAZING and truly is an inspired man! And he is CALLED OF GOD!! Everything he has us do makes the work so much better! It is incredible!! There are so many miracles that happen everyday!! I LOVE IT HERE! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else!! But I will probably get transfered because I am with zone leaders and when zone leaders are your trainers you are only there one transfer! So I will get transfered August 16th! WE WILL SEE WHERE :)

FUNNY STORY:

I can tell you we are definatly in the BIBLE BELT! There are soooo MANY BAPTISTS here!! And they all call themselves "Bible Thumping Baptists" They tell us that as soon as they open the door! "Im not interested! I'm a Bible thumping Baptist :P" It's annoying!! Anyways, this lady was a referall from someone we tracted into! (President Barry really stresses asking EVERYONE for refferals so we do) We went over to knock on this door and this lady opens it and she is really nice! But then we mention the Book of Mormon! And she starts going off on how the Bible is the only word of God and how she feels sorry for us that we believe that the Book of Mormon is God's word because we are going to go to hell! And we said "we just simply invite people to read the Book of Mormon and ask God themselves if they know it is true because we don't expect you to believe us or anyone! It is important to gain your own witness that the Book of Mormon is true" and she flipped out and started telling us we are going to hell and all! She said"well, we will see who goes to hell" And Elder Failner who is a very firery missionary (which is good, he loves to share the gospel) says " we will see"! And Elder Snow and I got on him for saying that because that is inapropriate and its not true!! He agreed!

My companions are amazing! We all have disagreements but they are very submissive and communicate really well! It is amazing! We get along really well though! We only disagree on where we should go or how or what we should teach! But they are amazing and they work really hard! But we have fun too when it is necessary!!

Here is a story I want you to share with the ward:

We were tracting and accidently ran into a members home! Her name is Sister Phillips! She invited us in and we gave her a short lesson and asked at the end if she knew anyone who would benifit from hearing our message! She said to go visit this man! She didn't know his name! She called him Hong Kong man! But he has visited her a couple times and she has talked a little bit about the gospel with him and he seems open! And he lived just down the street! So we drove down there and the dogs were crazy! Dogs are crazy here so we really have to be careful! Anyways, we go up to his house and we talked to him and set up an apointment for the following day! His name was Shagi and he is from India! Not Hong Kong ahah!! Then we asked him if he knew anyone who could benifit from our message! He said his neighbor! So we went over there and also set up an apointment with him! His name is Paul! We are meeting with them this week! and Shagi seems promising! The point is it is so important to give missionaries referrals! Anyways I want to tell you one more story but not enough time I have to get off so I will mail it to you!!

I love you ALL!!

Elder Wise

July 18th, 2011 - Week 2

Hey,

How is everyone? Hope you enjoyed your trip :)

Thank you for the package!! I got it this morning!! :) THANK YOU :) Love the Fudge Jumbles!! I have so much food now with the food you sent me and Emilie Talbot sent me a package with just as much food if not more!!

Exciting news: Elder Holland is coming to talk to our mission on August 13 :) That should be awesome!!!

We do some trade offs!! We try to but sometimes it is really hard!!

But I did do a trade off this week and I was in Maclenny and they pulled a prank on me!! They said we were going to a gators ;) house and that she had a lot of questions and they wanted me to answer!! So we got there and she started asking WAY hard questions and I was doing okay but then it turned out she was a member haha!!!

And people here are so into the BIBLE!!! The Bible is the only word of god!! It is so hard to even convince them to read the Book of Mormon and Pray about it :P They are so close minded!!

They call themselves "Bible-thumping Baptists" haha

So we had a baptism on saturday for Shawn and he was supposed to get confirmed sunday but he didn't show up!!?? It turned out he got a job and had to work?? ummm... sabbath day? GUH!!! So we are working on him!!

We had to drop a lot of gators this week cuz they werent doing anything!! So we have done a lot of tracting!!

We ran into a guy named Rodney yesterday who is struggling with life!! He calls himself a Hermit!! But he is really open!! And he is committed to reading the Book of Mormon and he sais he feels that it is true but he wants to read the book before he commits to being baptized which is good!!!

Anyways, we have probably 4 gators!! I wanted to share some cool things with you!! But I dont have time!! I will share them with you next time!! It is things we do in our mission!! We have a third verse to the Called to Serve song and We have a mission scripture which is 3 Nephi 5:13 and insert Elder Wise after Behold, I,.. Elder Wise.. then continue!!

It is cool!! And we have something called the invite test.. I will probably write to you about all of this!!

Thank you much!! Love you all!!!

Elder Wise

July 11th, 2011 - Frist Week In Florida

Dear Family, (edited for friends - and please) 

The weather here is really strange! It is hot and humid but it has rained almost everyday so far!! We get a lot of lightning which is really cool!! But your skin gets really sticky when it rains!! Cuz its hot and humid which sucks!!!

Presidant Barry is an amazing mission president and he is a man called of God and I know that!! We aren't aloud to wear purple or pink ties though :( and we always have to have our hair parted!!! (I HATE THAT... I LOOK SOOO DUMB!) But it is a rule so I must follow it :) with a happy heart! And I do! So ya, my trainers are zone leaders and its tough sometimes cuz teaching in a threesome is hard! Because you don't get to talk as much as you would like to!

 

We are doing great things though!! We had 5 Gators at church this week! And 2 of them have a baptismal date set!! One is [a lady that has] some different and wierd thoughts... but she knows the church is true so you can't deny her the gospel and she has been through really rough times so it makes sense.. the other one is Shawn!! And he has an amazing testimony and the missionaries have been working with him for a long time!! But he is getting baptized this Saturday! HOPEFULLY... we were on our way to the library to email and we caught him smoking :( THAT WAS SAD! But he sais that was just one time.. I really hope he isn't lying!!! He has a great testimony!

 

And we have more Gators that are coming along but just need more work!  My favorite one is Mary.. she would be an amazing member and I want her to come to the truth sooo bad! She loves meeting with us and she committed to come to church on wednesday and Sunday! And she didn't show to either :( We tracted in to her tuesday! We have a class the missionaries teach on Wednesday. I am teaching it this week :) Hopefully Mary will come around :)

 

We tract a lot!! But typically it is only a half hour at a time! Yesterday I ran into a lady who self-proclaimed herself to be a Prophetess? She said she was called of God to get people away from church because they are corrupt! She is a little crazy!

 

And can you send me soccer shorts?? and Fudge Jumbles?? I need sugar but I cant because I HAVE NO MONEY!!! well, I do.. but very little money!! So if you want to send me Fudge Jumbles AND cookies :) I WOULD LOVE IT!! And I haven't got a letter since I have gotten here! Which is sad!! 

 

I miss all of you and I love you very much!! I know this church is true!! This last week I have gotten pretty home-sick and I really want to be at home but I love it here and I know this is where I am supposed to be!! Hopefully I won't be home-sick for too much longer!! Pray for me and the work :) and ALL missionaries :) And make sure you guys do missionary work yourself and give missionaries referrals!!! The members are SOOO BIG in conversion!!! And make sure you are friendly to Gators :) Oh and all the missionaries here hug each other... no shaking hands haha.. except for sisters haha...! I love you guys and I miss you a lot!

 

The ward is really nice!! They bring us food on sundays all the time!! Oh we aren't allowed to eat with members! We have something called prime proslyteing where we have to be out knocking doors or visiting with Gators!! NO MEMBER VISITS!! from 5 to 8!! So no dinners with members until the weekends!! But the members give us food!!

Love,

Elder Wise

 

p.s. SEND FUDGE JUMBLES AND COOKIES 

 

My trainers told me I need to get a GPS and I need sheets and I will be sending some clothes home to y'all!! I am picking up the southern accent a little btw!! It is wierd!! My companions have it! LOVE YOU! 

 

FROM THE PRESIDENT!!!

Dear family of Elder Wise,

            We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely to the Florida Jacksonville Mission.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary at the mission home.  The smiles on their faces showed their excitement and readiness to be here.  

            Your son arrived with 2 other missionaries and they have enjoyed a dinner together at the mission home, have been interviewed by President Barry and were trained by the assistants. We have taken pictures and I have attached a picture of him with President Barry and I.  As you can see he is well and happy although a little tired. We also took a group picture which you can view later this week on our blog at:
                          www.floridajacksonvillemissionnews.blogspot.com

            You are welcome to check this blog often to catch a glimpse of your missionary and find out what is going on in this mission.

            Elder Wise will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day which is each Monday.  He will let you know where he has been assigned to serve.  (Just a reminder ... when Monday happens to fall on a national holiday, those who use the public libraries will not have access to a computer, therefore, they usually email on Tuesday instead.)  

              We promise to take good care of your son. His physical, emotional and spiritual welfare is our first concern.  If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us as we work together for his success as a missionary. 

 

              Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others.  We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children.”
 

               We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for all you have done to prepare Elder Wise to faithfully serve a mission.We look forward to getting to know him as we serve our Heavenly Father here in the Florida Jacksonville Mission.

            Please accept our love and gratitude for trusting him to us and more importantly to the Lord.

May God Bless You,

President James W. Barry and Sister Marilyn T. Barry

What a great email to receive upon my arrival home today! I loved it when I heard that Teagen arrived safely in S. Africa...and now Levi has arrived safely in Jacksonville, FL and is ready and anxious to serve the Lord and the people there! 

Independence Day (from the MTC)

I was chatting with a former missionary in our area on FaceBook on July 3rd. He asked how Levi was doing. I told him he was flying to Florida on the 4th of July. He said, "Oh, so you get talk to him tomorrow?". I said, "I DO???". He said, "Well, don't quote me b/c it depends on their travel schedule...but I wouldn't go too far from your phone".

I'm used to not getting my hopes up. We were sleeping in a camper trailer in the backyard of my in-laws b/c we were at a Wise Family Reunion all weekend and all the Wise brother's and their families had converged upon their house.I put my cell phone down on the counter a ways from my bed. At 6:30am pacific time, my cell phone rang. I leaped from my bed, stepped in my back pack, tripped down the stairs, stepped in my duffel bags and lunged for my phones. I knew when I looked the number on the phone - an "801" area code - that is was LEVI!!!

I answered and it was so wonderful to hear his voice! He said, "Where are you guys!?!" I told him we were in Coeur d'Alene for the family reunion and he said, "Oh yeah! I forgot! I called home like 6 times and thought for sure you would pick up by then. So then I tried your cell and you answered!". Oh, I would have been so upset had I missed his call!

We haven't been able to access our email either b/c AirSpeed Internet has been down or something...for several days! (almost all month) and it's getting quite irritating. So, I didn't know if I had an email there telling us he was calling, or what.

But bottom line - I got to talk to Levi. I put on speaker phone and Jim and I both got to talk to him for about 30 min! He said he has gained about 12 lbs from chocolate milk! LOL. He is all worried that he will get a companion that will run with him. He is anxious to get out in the mission field. He said the MTC was great, but it is like prison! Bars on the windows, security everywhere...he is ready to be in Florida! He said that when Elder Bednar came to talk to them, his teacher let him out late, so they had to be in an overflow area - so he was really mad at his teacher b/c he really wanted to see him in person! (I would be too!)

Levi sounded great and is off to Jacksonville, FL for his first area and to meet his trainer. As soon as I know his address and more info, I will blog!
Happy 4th of July to ALL - especially AMERICA!