Bring Our Lives In Harmony With God's Will - May 27th, 2013

Dear Family,

We had a great week this week. We had a baptism yesterday. It was a great experience! His name is J.X. We found him 2 weeks ago and he came to church and loved it. He has come 3 times since then and was baptized yesterday. After his confirmation he stood up and gave everyone a hug! He was so excited! He came up to me afterwards and I gave him a big hug and he had the biggest smile on his face. It was amazing!

We also found an amazing family this week. A husband and wife, and a cute little 2 year old. They are really nice and are excited to come to church and see how it is. They got called into work this week so they couldn't come! They will soon though :)

We had Zone Conference this last week and it was super powerful! The spirit was really there. We talked a lot about repentance. This is one of my favorite quotes in Preach My Gospel and I am paraphrasing it. "Bringing our lives in harmony with God's will is the central purpose of our lives" That is so true! One big problem in the world is priorities. What is most important to us? That is why repentance is so important. Through prayer, scripture study, church attendance, and living the gospel of Christ will bring our lives in harmony with God's will. Obviously repentance is a huge part in the Gospel of Christ. Repentance is the process of bringing our lives in harmony with God's will. It was truly an amazing Zone Conference.

Well, not to much longer and I will be talking with you face to face :) OH and Micah, good luck with your acting thing! That is so amazing you were nominated best actor in Washington. I will pray for your success! Hope you win it!

Love ya'll! Have a great week!

Elder Wise

Power of Prayer! - May 20th, 2013

Hello!

We had an incredible week this week! Do you remember the man I told you about on the skype? He came to church and we got a return appointment with him? Well, he is getting baptized next Sunday! He is very elect. We are really excited for him.

I have relearned the importance of prayer recently!! Here is a passage I really like out of Mosiah 24..

"9 For Amulon knew Alma, that he had been one of the king’s priests, and that it was he that believed the words of Abinadi and was driven out before the king, and therefore he was wroth with him; for he was subject to king Laman, yet he exercised authority over them, and put tasks upon them, and put task-masters over them.

 10 And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God.

 11 And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death.

 12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

 13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

 14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand aswitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord didstrengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

 16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.

 17 And he said unto Alma: Thou shalt go before this people, and I will go with thee and deliver this people out of bondage.

 18 Now it came to pass that Alma and his people in the night-time gathered their flocks together, and also of their grain; yea, even all the night-time were they gathering their flocks together.

 19 And in the morning the Lord caused a deep sleep to come upon the Lamanites, yea, and all their task-masters were in a profound sleep.

 20 And Alma and his people departed into the wilderness; and when they had traveled all day they pitched their tents in a valley, and they called the valley Alma, because he led their way in the wilderness."

The story is self explanatory! Prayer can comfort us! It will lead us to where we need to go. It is so important in missionary work to rely on the power of prayer. AND in normal life. 

We were reporting numbers last night. We have some baptisms for this weekend. Our zone has a lot of dates on for June. It is sounding like June is going to be an incredible month. And I am only going to see part of it. It was honestly a little depressing. I don't know how I feel about going home right now haha. I am excited. But, I am really really going to miss mission life. It is a lot of fun!

Anyways, Teagen, I am going to take your Ping Pong Throne!!! WATCH OUT!!! haha! Love you all! Have a great week!

Love Elder Wise

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER WISE!!!! - May 6th, 2013

Good morning :)

I have not gotten my package yet. I am sure it will come today! Thank you for the happy birthday wishes! (Elder Wise's Birthday is on May 7th) I can't believe I am 21.. that is sort of wierd. 

So this week was really good. We set a date with an investigator who was not willing to accept a baptism date for awhile. This lady, when she commits to something, she does it. We are very excited for her. She came to the Gladys Knight fireside deal. Elder Huckvale and I knew how Gladys Knight made her entrance. So we put her in a spot where she could shake Gladys's hand. It worked! SHE LOVED IT! haha. 

I have a really funny story to tell. We were at our WML's house on Saturday night. They fed us some delicious pulled pork sandwiches. They said "if you would like seconds there is some more in the crock pot in the kitchen." I loved them so I went for seconds. For some reason, I couldn't find a crock pot. I looked around and saw a black bowl that had what looked like meat. I excitedly began to dish my seconds. I put some barbecue sauce on. I was excited for the delicious taste. I took my first bite, it seemed really fat. I thought, wow, that was a fatty peace. I took my second bite and the same thing happened. I thought "eww... well, I can't be rood." I took my third bite and then I thought "something is wrong." I asked them if it looked right. Everyone started laughing at me. It turns out. The black bowl had the extra fat from the pulled pork. Yum.. I had some delicious pork fat. It was nasty!!!!!

Micah, I am really excited to be able to go to your graduation.. I was bummed because I thought I wouldn't be able to... I was wrong! YES!!!

I love ya'll.. Hope you have a great week! Sounds like we all have a crazy busy schedule! That is good.. time will fly :) Love you!!!

Elder Wise

Spiritual Thought - May 6th, 2013

So I forgot to put a spiritual thought into my email.. so here it is!!

In my personal study.. I was reading Mosiah, Chapter 9, where Zeniff leads a group of people from Zarahemla to the land of Lehi-Nephi. About their journey, Zeniff wrote this.

"And yet, I being over-zealous to inherit the land of our fathers, collected as many as were desirous to go up to possess the land, and started again on our journey into the wilderness to go up to the land; but we were smitten with famine and sore afflictions; for we were slow to remember the Lord our God."

This is in verse 3. They forgot to remember God. They didn't pray or read the scriptures. They were given trials to humble them to bring them to remember God. He created all things. He created our bodies. Everything we are able to do is because of Him. He created our spirits. He gave us our gifts which we need to use to bless others.

"Yea, in the strength of the Lord did we go forth to battle against the Lamanites; for I and my people did cry mightily to the Lord that he would deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, for we were awakened to a remembrance of the deliverance of our fathers."

This is verse 17. When they turned to God, they were delivered! The commandments we have lead to happiness. It is just the way of life. God didn't give commandments for no reason. He gave them because if we follow these commandments, WE WILL BE HAPPY... He wants us to be happy. That is why we have a living Prophet. That is why we have Jesus Christ. That is why we are alive!

I love you!!! Have a great week!