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