UNCLE Elder Wise - January 30th, 2012

Dear Family,

 

AHHHHHHHH! I can't believe I'm going to be an Uncle. I am in shock but I knew it was coming soon. I thought it would be around April though, but I'm excited for them..

 

Now for the big news.... like I thought... I'm being transfered and Elder Boamorte is training. And yes, I will see Elder Huckvale on Wednesday and I will definitely give him a big welcome.

 

Valeria is still doing really well. She was going to come to church this Sunday but her husband had to go work in Southern Florida and she had to go with him so she couldn't make it. Bummer too because it was stake conference broadcasted from Salt Lake and Elder Ballard spoke and it was really, really good. He focused his talk on missionary work and how important it is and how we need to be urgent about it because time is short. IT WAS VERY GOOD!

 

Yesterday, we went and saw a part-member/less active family. They want to start coming to church. BLESSING! They have a kid that is about 8 months old and they want him to grow up in the church. Hopefully we can help the father get into church. I am excited for them even though I wont be here to see it :(

 

Do you remember the ties I sent home? I saw micah wearing one of them when I called home on Christmas. Can you save those for me please?? :) I want those when I get home. I like those ties...

 

Anyway, that is pretty much it for this week. Other than transfer meeting there isn't much going on. I will have the office email you my address or something. I'll try to get it to you as soon as possible.

 

I love you all and keep me updated with TnT and their little baby :)

 

Love

Elder Wise

Faith precedes the Miracle - January 23, 2012

Dear Family,

 

This week was fantastic. It has probably been the best or second best week I have had in Palatka.

 

Well, last night we received a call from our Mission President and tensions grew because we knew one of us was training. That is the only reason President calls. Elder Boamorte answers the phone and he was called to train. So maybe he will train Elder Huckvale? (Elder David Huckvale from Camas is currently in the MTC and schedule to arrive in Florida, Jacksonville on Feb 3, 2012! Who will train him? Will Elder Wise and Elder Huckvale be companions some day? That would be fun!) But basically, I am 99% sure I will be transfered. The only way I wouldn't be is if Elder Boamorte and his new missionary get white washed somewhere, but that probably wont happen. I have been here (in Palatka, FL) for 6 months. So if you are sending the package make sure it gets here by the end of the month. Transfers happen on Febuary 1st.

 

This week we doubled the number of lessons that we had the week previous. It was great. Valeria is the Brazilian that Sister Barry referred to us. We had a church tour with her and it was FANTASTIC! It went very well. She is hesitant to come to church services until she is more comfurtable unfortunately. We also went and visited Tamara this week and her boyfriend was there and we are now teaching him and hopefully they will both bring each other up.

 

Donny I think avoids us when we set appointments so we aren't sure if he really wants to learn. It is really sad to because sometimes people seem like they are just ready and waiting to accept the gopsel but then they just dont. I don't get it and its sad.

 

But this week I studied a lot on faith and it really helped. I felt like I had a lot more faith that there were miracles out there this week and they made us work hard to find those miracles. I love the scriptures in Ether 12: I think 12-18. It talks about how faith preceeds the miracle and how if we have no faith there will be no miracle. I think in verse 23 It says if miracles shall cease it is because of the lack of faith in man. I definitely grew a testimony of that this week.

 

It sounds like you all had a blast on the mountain.. Dad, thanks for saluting the dumb trail that dislocated my shoulder :P haha. I will get revenge on that trail when I get back. haha. Stockton, go dominate those games, think out your moves and how you can trick the defender and attack quickly... GO DOMINATE!! AND DEFEND HARD.. DEFENSE IS ALL EFFORT!!... We played basketball last p day... I HAVE LEARNED THE POWER OF CUTTING DAD!!! It works so well.. and EFFORT IN DEFENSE.. No joke.. no missionary wanted me gaurding them haha.. But, none of them can play basketball very well so that isn't sayng much for me but still haha..

 

Anyways, I love you all.. thank you so much FOR EVERYTHING I LOVE YOU AND I APPRECIATE YOU..

 

Love

Elder Wise

Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God - January 9, 2012

Dear Family,

 

It sounds like Fern Prairie Ward is having so MANY MIRACLES :) YES!!! I love it! I brag about all the success your bringing to our ward Dad and Mom :) WAY TO GO! :) I am seeing some success over here too!! :)

 

With Lydia this week, we had a very intense lesson with her. I say intense because it was almost really bad. We first went in and she had the intention of bashing. Dad and Teagen you probably know what I mean. You can just tell when someone is ready to bash. (bashing meaning trying to prove the Book of Mormon is not true. Trying to take scriptures out of context. Basically, not having an open, teachable, humble mind. Questioning is one thing...but having a demeanor of negativity is another) I love Elder Boamorte. We teach very well togethor and we are always able to stay calm in sticky situations such as this one. She felt really offended in our last lesson apparantly that we believe that this is the only true church. She feels her other friends who are in other churchs are great people. And we agreed with her and tried to explain more. She also did some research on the current apostles and ran into some anti. I hate anti. It is so dumb.(anti-Mormon literature. Basically if you go into a Toyota store and ask them about the Ford vehicles, they will tell you everything horrible about the Fords. This is what anti-Mormon literature does - it finds things out of context and tries to stir people up into fear, disbelief and anger, rather that just learning about the church, it's history and teachings) I told her about the experience Mom had with the press saying Megan wasn't good enough to win state or something like that when that wasnt really what you said. (a great example. They asked if Megan is "that good". I told them she was a consistent athlete, who stayed focused and that with her and her teammates, we'd be successful. The press twisted that and quoted me as saying I didn't feel Megan could win the State Title! Made me so angry!!)  I don't know the story exactly. We then we referred her back to the Book of Mormon and knowing that that is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and if that is all true then you don't have to worry about all that anti stuff. But we have to push back her baptismal date. She is going to take longer to help her gain a testimony. We are still working with her and she is an amazing lady.

 

Sorry about not emailing yesterday btw. We had no place to email because of MLK day. But yesterday we went and conctacted a referral named Donny. Donny is a young man and we taught him the restoration. He told us he has been to many churches but doesn't like them because they are hypocritical. He is searching for the right church. A lot of people in the south believe that as long as you believe in Jesus Christ it doesnt matter which church you go to, but Donny is one of the few people that I have met that believes God has his one way and his one church. He accepted the baptismal invite and committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and come to church. This young man is so elect. I am so excited for him.

 

This morning we got a call from the Mission Presidents wife, Sister Barry. She contacted someone and she is Brazilian. She lives in our area and Sister Barry said that she is really elect and wants to learn more about the church. So I think that we are going to have a lot of baptisms coming up this week. I am so excited. I know we are going to accomplish it. Ever since I came here I felt something BIG in the makings. This is it this year! Elder Nelson of the quorom of the twelve told a mission president that one day people would flock to the church because it is the last sign of hope on earth. He also said that this would happen in his lifetime. Elder Nelson is 80 years old. I think this is the year. With the presidential debates and the so called "mormon moment". In New York all the taxi's have mormon.org advertisements on the top and mormon.org videos playing inside the taxi's!! New York is exploding in baptisms! There are a lot of things happening right now and I am so excited for it.

 

I want to share one more scripture that goes along with the message last week and the importance of sharing the gospel. It is Matthew 6:33. Where it sais "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God". If you look down in the footnotes and look at the JST it sais "Seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God". That is what we should seek first. It is a commandment and we should look for every oppurtunity to share the gospel. So it can bless EVERYONES life. I love you all.

 

Love

Elder Wise

Keep Your Priorities Straight! - January 9, 2012

Dear Family,

 

Stockton, don't worry about getting cut. (Stockton was recently cut from the 8th grade boys basketball team. He is till playing on the Boys Select team however and doing very well. He is getting taller and stronger every year...so, watch out 9th grade! :) You are a very intelligent player and you have a good shot. You are exactly right. Hit those weights and pump that Iron and work HARD HARD HARD! You will be amazing! Just like the new High School Coach! 

 

Mom! You scared the BAJEEBERS out of me when you started talking cancer :P DONT DO THAT!!! There is a missionary here whose Mom passed away a couple months ago while he was still on his mission. I have no idea how you could handle that! (I told him about all the testing I did for celiac disease and how they doc wanted to rule out any possibility of cancer b/c of the symptoms I was having. I'm glad they did! But now on a strict gluten-free diet!)

 

Dad, I hope that basketball coach does good! He sounds good! I'm glad work is keeping busy :) How is the book coming along?? :)

 

So this week was pretty good. We had a meeting with Lydia and had a very good lesson and we also set a baptismal date for the 21st of this month. She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it so we are really excited.

 

I love this area a bunch. I love the ward members here. Tamara has been having a hard time lately but we had a meeting with her on Saturday and she is amazing! She is so determined to get back into church and she is just glowing. I know she can do it. She came to church sunday.

 

I finished the Book of Mormon this week :) And I started on the New Testament. I was reading in Matthew 4, I think 18-22 where Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John. And they were fishing and dropped everything they were doing and followed Christ. I love that example they set. God should be our #1 priority in our lives. We should be able to drop everything at anytime and do whatever else God wants us to do.

 

The two biggest things I have learned so far on my mission is how blessed I am and I need to have grattitude and also the importance of keeping our priorities straight. You see all the time throughout the Book of Mormon, both the Nephites and the Lamanites have good priorities and prosper and then their priorities fall. They set their eyes on gold and they fall. That's what happens everytime. We always need to keep our priorities straight. 1. God 2. Family 3. whatever else but those are the two most important :)

 

I love you all! :) Hope you have another great WEEK :)

 

Love Elder Wise

HAPPY NEW YEAR! - January 1, 2012

Dear Family,

 

Also, How is Brother Small doing?

 

This last week has been MIRACLE FILLED! It has been great. I know that this year is going to be a big CHANGING year. I feel something big happening. I just know that there will be A TON of people prepared to enter into the lords kingdom through baptism :) I don't know what it is but ever since I have got in this mission I have felt that there is a ton of potential here. I am really excited. This last week we first went to a recent converts house named Kerry and his friend was there who we actually talked to a couple weeks ago on the street. We taught him the restoration and he was EXCITED!! He was really excited to come to church. Kerry really needs a CLOSE CLOSE friend to help him progress too. It would be perfect for him :) But, Kerry couldn't make it to church so Kenneth wasn't there either? We will see what happened tomorrow. But I still think he has a ton of potential.

 

We also met with a media referral that has been out of town for a little bit. Her name is Lydia. We had an amazing lesson with her and she came to church. This was her second time at church but first time going to Relief Society. SHE LOVED relief society. And they all loved her! It was perfect. She exchanged numbers with EVERYONE. It was fantastic. I am so excited for her as well.

 

This is going to be a big year. It is the only full year that I can COMPLETELY 100% dedicate myself to the lord. I have been reading in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi when Jesus Christ came and man it is powerful. I love bearing my testimony on the street saying that Jesus Christ IS the HEAD of our church. He leads it through an ACTUAL modern day prophet. The really frustrating thing is that everyone sais "oh ya, my pastor is a Prophet". They just don't understand. I try so hard to make it as clear as possible. It is really depressing when I feel the spirit so strong testifying but they just don't feel it or they completely ignore it. It really just hurts because you know how much it can bless their life, even if their life is going well. Even more blessings will be added upon them ya know? It gets depressing at times! But thanks to all of you I have a rock as my foundation and no matter what beats upon it, it will hold and remain standing. Thank you so much for that :)

 

It sounds like you all had a ton of fun for New Year's :) I'm glad! I miss you all! I wish I had a Ping Pong table :) haha.

 

Oh, we have also been taking out this member recently who has caught on fire! I am so excited! He talked to one of his employees the other day and asked for a Book of Mormon to give to him. Sorry, my english is getting wierd because of Elder Boamorte haha! But everything is going GREAT! Thank you so much for the Book of Mormon and EVERYTHING. I appreciate everything. SERIOUSLY! I don't know where I would be without you.

 

Something that is really wierd, is Elder Wheeler who I have been in the apartment with for 6 months at the end of this transfer only has one transfer after this :/ It just shows me how fast time flies by and how I CANT waste it at all!

 

Love

Elder Wise