Monday, September 28, 2015

September 27, 2015

Hey everyone! 

It was another great week down in "straya" that's how the people here say Australia! I have some funny experiences. So this week is a school holiday and the weather started to warm up! It hit like 80 degrees or something. I'm not good at converting C to F yet, but since it was so nice, nobody was home. Literally nobody! So we just knocked on heaps of doors! 

Funny experience of the week. Elder Liu was talking about his hobbies and he said that he just spent all of his time on the computer because his major is designing computer chips! and so he said that he loves his computer and then he went to make a joke about how when he gets married he will have to tell his wife that he is a polygamist because he is going to marry her and his computer. But since he has a slight language barrier he just said, "ya I'm going to have to tell my wife about my pornography" and then we just sat there in really really awkward silence until I said "Elder Liu do you know what pornography is?" and he was like "ya, its when you marry more than one girl". and so I had to explain the difference between polygamy and pornography hahah. 

       This week I was introduced to the greatest sauce ever! its called hot English mustard! and to me it tastes exactly like some really zippy wasabi! so Elder Liu and I put heaps of it on everything that we eat, sandwiches, any meat, I eat it with plain bread, and I will confess that I did put some hot English mustard with my peach yogurt! ya it sounds nasty but this stuff is really good! but when I say it is hot I mean that it is HOT! like I put some on some plain bread and I probably got a little enthusiastic with the amount, but it burned so bad down the back of my neck and up into my sinuses that it gave me a bloody nose! ahhhh butI\ I still eat it. Wow I apologize because I feel like the stories I told this week are really weird ones.
    
But with Rebecca(car crash) we set up an appt. for this coming Tuesday so hopefully we will be able to talk with her. and we had some really cool experiences with Lexi! we met with her twice this week but her mom doesn't want us to meet at the house, so we meet her at the chapel. but she can't drive until she is eighteen and so she has to take the bus! she showed up really late to one of our meetings and she seemed really calm and she just said "I got lost and I couldn't find the chapel and so I decided to say a prayer and then I found my way" ya that is prayer first hand! but this weekend we invited her to a baptism and she didn't show up :( so we waited for the whole time out in front and she never came. and then she didn't show up to church this Sunday! We don't know what happened so we are going to try and meet with her tomorrow! 
    
but I learned a really cool thing at church this week. So eagles build there nests out of thorns! ya that doesn't  seem like a comfy home to me. but they fill it with nice soft feathers so that there baby's have a nice place to live! and when the baby comes of age the mother scratches out all of the feathers so that it exposes all of the thorns and so the baby is forced to jump on to the mothers back. If the mother didn't scratch out the feathers then the baby would never leave. Then the mom takes the baby high into the sky and then drops it, and the baby has to learn how to fly or it falls. Right before it falls the mom catches it and takes it back up and drops it again until it learns. I feel like this relates to us! Some times we feel like we are really going through a rough time and that no good can come from it, but if we trust in our Heavenly Father then we can learn to "fly" Psalms 34:8 "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man who trustith in him". Well I love you all and I hope you have a great week 

Much love
Elder Wiser

this dog! it is huge! the picture does no justice to how large that animal is! and the picture was snapped right as it slobbered all over my face! but the owner of the dog was an avid atheist so he was not interested:(

this is Australia for you. on the left side of the picture its all sunny and happy and on the right side its like a crazy rain storm! everyone always says here " if you don't like the weather, then wait for 20 minutes" haha

I got your package! I was so excited! I love you!
oh and good news, the spiderman shirt fits! I have put on weight but I still fit into a small shirt ;) I wore it the first day I got it for some service.
so i taught elder liu how to do "the basic white girl" pose! he does it very well!
look im eating a donut!!! and its free of all the gluten! the members in the ward go and buy me heaps of gluten free stuff from one of the dozens of gluten free bakeries around here.

Monday, September 21, 2015

September 20, 2015

hey everyone!

wow, i know that i say this every week but this week was crazy and time is going by so fast! i had some really weird experiences this week! so for the first time i felt comfortable driving on Australian roads! i was just sitting in the passenger seat and i thought "wow i think im getting used to being on the wrong side of the road" i was really proud of my self until i realized that we were actually on the right side of the road and there was a car coming strait on! elder liu was driving on the wrong side of the road for i don't even know how long! hahah but its okay we didn't get into a crash! and i am getting known in the Mooroolbark ward for having "different" ways of finding people to teach! first i had the car crash with Rebecca and then this week i was on excanges with the district leader elder kim. and we didn't have the car that day so we were walking to an appointment. we were on the main street when all of a sudden elder kims nose just exploded with blood! that sounds pretty gross but he had a really bad bloody nose! so we knocked on the first door we could find and this man named alan answered! he was pretty concerned about elder kims bloody nose, but after a while elder kim just stuffed a whole bunch of toilet paper up his nose! even though he still had blood ALL OVER his face and toilet paper hanging out of his nose he introduced the book of Mormon into the conversation and then bore a super solid testimony and then i was able to share how i felt right after and alan wants to meet up with us this week! so there are quite a few ways to find people to teach: GQ, trackting, working with members, car crashes, and bloody noses;)
      so update on Rebecca (car crash), we cant get ahold of her :( she went to northern Australia and now we cant get contact! i hope we can get in touch with her soon! her family needs the gospel! but i guess its all on the lords time! 
    so algie this week! elder liu was the key! we couldn't really figure out his concerns but when elder liu started to ask questions we figured them out! algie has a burning testimony of the gospel! he said that joseph smith had to be a prophet and that our church had the priesthood authority! he believes in the book of Mormon and everything! but he has some habits that he doesn't want to change! he said that god "could" help him change but he is not ready!!! man that kills me! i know how much it would help him, and not only spiritually and mentally, his health would improve but he does not want to change! so we are going back again this week to see if he has had a desire to change.
    we found a golden investigator this week! her name is lexi! she is 17. we found her right after we were leaving a less active members home! it was dark out side and she was really far away and it would seem super creepy but the thought "talk with everyone" came into my head with some serious conviction! so i just yelled heeeeeeeyyyy hhhhooooowww arrrreee youuuu! and she turned out to be the most keen person we have met! we taught her the plan of salvation on Friday and she came to church this sunday (all three hours) and we are going to teach her the restoration on Tuesday! she said that she couldn't find a purpose in life but she thinks the gospel is what she is looking for! i will update you more next week! but the scripture that i have really been loving is 1 ne 7:12 the lord is able to do all things as long as we have faith! i know that this gospel can bless anyone who accepts it and lives it! its just a matter of getting it to everyone! but the lord places people in our way, all we have to do is keep our eyes open. i love you all so much! have an amazing week

love elder wiser
hey I decorated my room! elder liu thought that my flag wasn't big enough hahah!

this is the Williams family. brother Williams is the second councillor in the ward! his son wearing all red is probably the most energetic kid I have ever met. his name is Kingston. Kingston and I are celiac buddies.

so mom this is algie! he is our investigator that has had such a hard life! he is just turning 73.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

September 13, 2015

Hello! Wow time goes by so fast! Its so crazy! But Elder Gunnell went back to the big US this week! it was probably the most awkward goodbye I have ever had! Elder Gunnell hates goodbyes so instead of saying goodbye he just walked away! hahah we were just chatting about how his mission went and then without a word he just left to America! haha have you met him yet?;) but I got my new companion! He is a champ his name is Elder Liu (pronounced Leo)! He is from Taiwan. He has been out for seven months. He has an amazing story, he was baptised when he was twenty years old and when he was twenty one he baptised his father! and then when he was twenty three he came on his mission. He is still learning English but for only knowing it for seven months he is doing fantastic! He is very very positive! We get along really well. He went to college for four years before he came out! His major is in electrical engineering! So he designs and builds computer chips! so he is super smart! but I never realized how much I didn't know until I he asked me to explain really easy words like "court" or "fault line"  he asked me about the mountains in Utah and I started to explain fault lines and he said what is that? so I said "its where two tectonic plates come together" and then he said "what tectonic mean" . . . how do you explain tectonic! I actually don't know what that means hahah! but its all fun.
     So I am the only American in my district. our district leader elder Kim is from south Korea (in the car on the left), and his companion elder Solomon is from new Zealand. Then Elder Liu from Taoyuan Taiwan, and Elder Wiser from Merka. and then Elder Viuga is from Samoa and his companion Elder Matoua is from Fiji! yes that is a very divers district. and we all are very young, the district leader and his comp and Elder Viuga have been out for four months and then I have been out for two, Elder Liu has been out for 7 and Elder Matoua is the oldest at 17 months =) so we are just going for it! together we don't have very much experience and so all we can do is try our best!
   So I told you about Rebecca, the lady that we got in a car crash and then wanted to get baptized, she went on vacation with her family so we haven't been able to catch up with her yet!! so we are really excited for her to return!
      So this Thursday we went to do two hours of service for a family in the district leaders ward! and we were the only ones that showed up, besides the immediate family! so we were supposed to help move them out of their house. it ended up being seven hours because only us four elders came and the rest of the family just smoked and told us what to move hahahah it was the best! we were running in between loads trying to get it done before dark! so we didn't get any time in our area that day -_- the new district leader felt really bad, but he promised us blessings for helping and he said that we would find a lot more people that were interested in the gospel! and that exact thing happened! on Sunday! everyone that we met wanted to learn more! and one of the familes in the ward brought a non member friend named Isabella, and she is so keen to learn more! what a blessing so I will let you know how it goes next week! but the lord truly does bless everyone when we try our best D&C 82:8-10 the Lord will bless us if we do what is right! I love my mission so much! the Lord blesses and uplifts me every single day. I love you all! have a great week!

love Elder Wiser

its crazy haha I talk really fast so they can't really understand me.

So this first picture is a picture of Elder Gunnell and I burning his suit the night before he left! we doused it in gas ! ya it was a huge fire

This Is my mission family! Elder Gunnell is in the center he is my trainer and then on the right is Elder Stokes! He is my mission brother hahahaha

so this is my district! and my new companion Elder Liu (Leo)! he is from Taiwan!Fiji, South Korea, Samoa, New Zealand and Taiwan
These are some cool families we met! The selfie is the Bryer family! The man wearing the BYU shirt holds the top two world records for para-olympic shotput! He is so ripped! He took the gold medal in the Olympics!  
     The second family with the orbs hanging from the ceiling! They are the Brooks family! She is a celiac!! yay fellow celiacs and so they take care of me really well with food! I love it!