Sunday, July 24, 2016

July 24, 2016

 It's been another fantastic week in the great down under! So, I haven't told you much about my companion but he is a champion! He is from Belair Maryland right out of Baltimor. (pardon spelling). He went to a year of university for film development. And he plays soccor and basketball. He is about my size, And he is really funny. I feel like we are laughing all day long. We get along really well, I have been so blessed with getting good companions! They all are very different but they are all so great!
   This week we had an amazing experience. So about a year ago Elder Halsey was involed with teaching a family that was baptized and just went through the temple and was sealed. We were able to attend the sealing! I am so grateful that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the priesthood keys neccesary to seal families together forever! It's wonderful to see the change that the gospel can make in peoples lives. This family were good before they are baptised but they still expressed that the gospel helped them grow! It makes bad men good and good men better! We always have room to improve, and the atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible to improve!
     We also had another chance to meet with our mission president! He is so funny! He is very very motivating and has a lot of energy! He has a good vision for us and is pushing us to reach our goals! I love him and his wife! So, funny story! Two weeks ago Elder Ferris my old companion challenged President Vidmar to a hand stand contest! and I was not going to miss out on that! So I jumped in and it was just the three of us! and Elder Ferris had a bad start and fell out pretty quick but President and I (in our prosoliting clothes) stood on our hands without moving for quite a while, over a minute for sure. . . . . and then . . . . . I fell first! . . . I lost to my mission president haha but apparantly he was close to falling too so it supprised him! And now every time I see him he stops and talks about our next competition. haha we set a date for our next hand stand competition its going to be on Aug 12 and so we are both practicing! I can feel his love and the thing that is amazing is that he makes everyone feel that way! Everyone knows that he cares and that he wants them to be happy! He is awesome!
But I know that this church is true and that it blesses everyone
Has anyone had any missionary experiences the last week? I would love to hear them
I love you 
love Elder Wiser

This is me typing a letter on a type writter in a suit on a train. If thats not classy I dont know what is

and this is a brail book of mormon. it takes 8 binders and it fills up that whole box


this is my companion and i and the assistants to the president hahah i thought these were funny pictures. 


This is President Vidmar and I preparing for our next handstand competition!
These bikes are pretty cool 

This is the lucky family 


and their kids 

Us in front of a sunset

I got your package thank you

Thursday, July 21, 2016

July 17, 2016

It has been a wonderful week, this week was my first week in my new area Cranbourne with Elder Halsey from Baltamor Maryland and my companion! Our area is one of the fastest growing areas in Melbourne, it has on average 80 new people move in a day. So lots of people to work with. but the area is growing really fast just this week we were able to find three new investigators that are looking really good
    The first ones name is Joel, biggest miracle ever. Elder Halsey taught Joel in one of his last areas but he was living with his partner and wasnt ready quite then, but then we found Joel in Cranbourne and started teaching him again! He works in the navy and is about 26 years old, probably one of the most humble people I have ever taught! He read the Book of Mormon the whole time that he wasnt meeting with missionaries and he just kept saying!" I dont even know what questions I have but I am looking for their answers. and I feel like somethings missing in my life, but when I read the Book of Mormon and meet with people from your church I feel so happy and I feel at home" so he is fully prepared! We are so excited to keep teaching him! He accepted a baptismal date on August and is progressing towards it really nicely! and he got married to his partner and they are expecting a baby soon. He wants his family to be raised in the gospel.  It reconfirmed my testimony that Gods timing is perfect! He knows exacly what we need right when we need it! and so we can trust in him! and we found two other people that accepted baptismal dates, their names are Aaron and Shane! I will update you more next week on them and their story
     But I found a chapter in the Book of Mormon that I really really love it is Mormon chapter 9 it talks miracles and the atonement and the plan of salvation and faith! I studied it all this week and it has changed my perspective on what faith really is! I invite you to read it with any question in mind!  It means so much to me that God is a God of miracles, he is the same yesterday today and forever! There were miracles in the Old and New Testament! There were miracles in Joseph Smiths time and there are miracles now! We all need miracles in our life! I know that God lives and that he loves us! Have a great week
Love Elder Wiser
This is of a man we found taking a nap in his car, "dont let smoking tire you out, smoke and sleep at the same time, its a new activity called smeeping"  


This is my new companion Elder Halsey!

This is a picture of the wetlands by our house so thats pretty cool


This is great! its called balut, it is a premature duck egg and you crack it open and suck out the juice and then eat this duck right out of the shell hahah it is kinda like a boiled egg but you can see the head and eyes and soft bones and feathers and stuff hahaha it is a philipino delicacy. so we enjoyed eating that at a members home hahah


Wednesday, July 13, 2016

July 10, 2016

Hello everyone, 

This week is transfer week, and I have some news to tell you! dub dub . . . ..dub dub.......dub dub (that's suppost to sound like a heart beat) I am getting transferred!!!!! I'm going to miss Elder Jensen super bad! He is honestly the man! But I am getting transferred to a place called Vranbourne in the Gippsland stake! my new companion is from America! His name is Elder Halsy and he is a baller! I have gone on echanges with him before, and I'm excited for this new transfer! 

       Everything has been really amazing, we got to meet and spend a morning with the new mission president! Ee is so motivating! Him and his wife are going to do amaizning in their new calling! They have a clear vision for what they want the mission to achieve and miracles are starting to happen! Our area has blown up with new people to teach. The new missionaries are called goldens "and goldens bring miracles" and golden mission presidents and wifes bring many mighty miracles.! I don't have much time! but I love this gospel! it makes me so happy! Everytime I bear testimony of how much it has helped mE I can't help but smile! Everything in the gospel brings happiness, as long as we are following the guidelines that God has set in place for us! Just like a rope holds a kite in the air, the commandments and guildlines hold us to a whole new level! I love you all! have a great week!

from Elder Wiser

bubble soccer for zone p day



this is a Recent Convert named toko toko!

meeting with some old mission friends at a meeting! Elder Chapel 

Me and Elder Wheeler

this is the savage family! the father is Jason the mother is Stephany, the oldest son is kharsyl and then his girlfriend (investigator) shanay and then payton and sasha and winter! there family is so amazing!

and this is a recent convert that we took out with us for the day! his name is Hunter Campbell. he is only sixteen and he has mean dreds hahah he is so funny,


this is one of our investagators named James latu, he is moving to Sydney sadly.

and this is some of the zone! sisters masi teriipaia and tupu and elders togia kaanapu Jensen and myself!


Zone Pictures with our new Mission President Peter Vidmar and his Wife
Me with the new Mission Presidents - The Vidmars

Our zone with the Leaving Mission Presidents - Elder & Sister Maxwell


July 10, 2016

Hello everyone, 

This week is transfer week, and I have some news to tell you! dub dub . . . ..dub dub.......dub dub (that's suppost to sound like a heart beat) I am getting transferred!!!!! I'm going to miss Elder Jensen super bad! He is honestly the man! But I am getting transferred to a place called Vranbourne in the Gippsland stake! my new companion is from America! His name is Elder Halsy and he is a baller! I have gone on echanges with him before, and I'm excited for this new transfer! 

       Everything has been really amazing, we got to meet and spend a morning with the new mission president! Ee is so motivating! Him and his wife are going to do amaizning in their new calling! They have a clear vision for what they want the mission to achieve and miracles are starting to happen! Our area has blown up with new people to teach. The new missionaries are called goldens "and goldens bring miracles" and golden mission presidents and wifes bring many mighty miracles.! I don't have much time! but I love this gospel! it makes me so happy! Everytime I bear testimony of how much it has helped mE I can't help but smile! Everything in the gospel brings happiness, as long as we are following the guidelines that God has set in place for us! Just like a rope holds a kite in the air, the commandments and guildlines hold us to a whole new level! I love you all! have a great week!

from Elder Wiser

bubble soccer for zone p day



this is a Recent Convert named toko toko!

meeting with some old mission friends at a meeting! Elder Chapel 

Me and Elder Wheeler

this is the savage family! the father is Jason the mother is Stephany, the oldest son is kharsyl and then his girlfriend (investigator) shanay and then payton and sasha and winter! there family is so amazing!

and this is a recent convert that we took out with us for the day! his name is Hunter Campbell. he is only sixteen and he has mean dreds hahah he is so funny,


this is one of our investagators named James latu, he is moving to Sydney sadly.

and this is some of the zone! sisters masi teriipaia and tupu and elders togia kaanapu Jensen and myself!


Zone Pictures with our new Mission President Peter Vidmar and his Wife


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

July 3, 2016

Hello everyone, happy fourth of July! I hope that you have an amazing day! Today is our Preparation day and we will be having a zone P-day and will be doing bubble soccer! I'm pretty excited, but just to celebrate America I will be wearing my Capitan America shirt and American flag socks! wooo whooooo Go America!
    This week has been so fantastic! Our area and the surrounding areas have exploded with missionary work! We found out that at the beginning of June, we only had 2 baptismal dates in the zone, but then 4 people were actually baptized. At the start of July we have over 10 baptismal dates! These are just some numbers to show a little of how the work is growing but the work is growing in so many other ways! We were wondering why. And we think it is because of the members in the area! They have been so willing to help out us missionaries and to refer their friends to the Gospel! As missionaries we are called as full time teachers and the Members of the Church are full time finders! Just like Fishermen look to the birds to find where the fish are, missionaries look to the members to find where the investigators are! and so the miracle of missionary work came from the willingness of the members! I wish that I would have been more willing to help the cause before the mission! Missionary work is the Greatest and Most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life! I LOVE IT! and so I would like to invite you to Join in! Find friends to share the gospel with, and refer them to the missionaries, but don't stop there, sit in on the lessons and bear your testimony. I Promise you that as you do this you will be able to have a front row seat as their life changes for the better! You will be able to feel the spirit more in your daily life and it will strengthen your testimony of the gospel! I feel so lucky that I am able to see all of these lives changed by the gospel. We have friends and family members everywhere that are seeking for happiness, they may not know it yet but the gospel fills holes in peoples hearts that they didn't know they had. I would like to hear if you have any missionary experiences. 
       This week we were able to meet our new mission President! President and sister Vidmar! They are so amazing. I believe that the mission sent home a picture of them. They are not very tall. . . .and that means something coming for me, but I don't think I could find more spiritual giants! She is a convert to the church and neither of them have ever served a full time mission! But they are so fired up and ready to go! I cannot wait to get to know them more! They are from Orange County California. They were both gymnasts and he is a two-time Olympic gold medallist! I studied a talk that he gave in general conference right after he won a gold medal and I loved it. "Pursuing Excellence" by Peter Vidmar! He talks about giving just a little bit more and how we can reach goals that seem hard to obtain! I know that things in life are hard, but nothing is so hard that the atonement cant help us over come it! I know that Jesus Christ lives! The more we can emulate and follow him, the greater joy we can feel and the easier trails will be to overcome. I love you all so much! Have an amazing week! 
let me know how the missionary work goes!
love elder wiser

this is the Leahy family! so amazing! he is gluten intolerant and so he takes very good care of me. We sit together in sacrament so we can get gluten free crackers. and that boy is so so so so smart. he is literally like a kid genius! such a great family!

and this is Elder Lemusu! He has been in the mission for 5 weeks and I got to go on exchanges with him! He is from Samoa and he is the only member of his family! so spiritual!

Pursuing Excellence, Peter Vidamr, April 1985

I’ve been asked to address my remarks to the young men this evening. It is my humble prayer that I may further instill upon them the desire to pursue excellence and to dedicate themselves to serving our Heavenly Father.
I am very honored and proud to have represented my country in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Participating in that great competition is an event that I will always cherish and remember. My involvement in gymnastics, however, has taught me qualities that go beyond athletics. The qualities, characteristics, and keys to success in sports are factors that carry over to all other aspects of our lives.
For those of us who, in any way, had the opportunity to view the Olympic Games, we saw the greatest athletes in the world performing at the very best of their abilities. Many of those athletes scored the most points, the fastest times, or the greatest distances in the history of the Olympic Games.
But how did they do it? What makes a great athlete? I remember a great Olympic champion who once addressed this question. He named some important factors such as great coaching, good equipment, good athletes to train with, or just pure natural talent. All of these ingredients can go into the recipe for a great athlete, and each will help in its own way. But there is one quality that rises above all, and without it, the athlete is not complete. That ingredient is desire.
The athlete with the greatest desire to succeed will stand a greater chance of reaching his or her goal. The same holds true for the student or the musician or whatever it is that you young men aspire to be. A five-year study of many of the United States’ top athletes, musicians, and scholars has recently concluded that “drive and determination, not great natural talent, led to their extraordinary success.” (Los Angeles Times, 17 Feb. 1985.)
In determined athletes, we can see the difference between knowing and doing. Those who really desire to reach their goals will do whatever they must do in order to achieve them.
Our great prophet, Spencer W. Kimball, has in his office a little motto that simply reads: “Do it.” In Matthew 21:28–31 we read:
“But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard.
“He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
“And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
“Whether of them twain did the will of his father?” [Matt. 21:28–31]
Let’s not just talk about what we want to be. Let’s not just dream about what we want to be. Let’s just do it, whatever it takes. To reach your goals, you may have to work harder than you have ever worked before in your entire life.
My coach taught me a great lesson in my early development as a gymnast. I was leaving for my first national team training camp. Before I traveled to the camp, my coach told me only one thing. He didn’t tell me to learn any new maneuvers at the camp. He didn’t tell me to try to perform my routines better than the rest of the team. He told me that when I returned from that training camp that he wanted to hear me tell him, with all honesty, that I had worked harder than anyone else on the national team.
So I remember making it a point to be the last one out of the gym every day; and that didn’t mean just waiting at the door for everyone else to leave! Also, I remember that at night, when some team members would occasionally relax with their pizza and beer, I would go back to my room and do more exercises.
When I returned home two weeks later, I was proud to tell my coach, “Yes, I worked harder than everyone else.” I didn’t work twice as hard, just a little bit harder. But it was enough to help me to improve greatly. Sometimes, just a little bit is all that matters.
Let’s realize what the margin of victory was in a few of the events in last summer’s Olympics. In women’s cycling, after the 79.2-kilometer race, the difference between the gold medalist and the silver medalist at the finish line was just the length of a tire. In a pressure-packed swimming relay, the difference between the first-place team and second-place team was only .04 of a second. In many of the gymnastics competitions, the difference between first place and second place was as minute as .025 of a point.
The champions didn’t win by running twice as fast, by jumping twice as far, or by scoring twice as many points as their opponents. In many cases they won by just a fraction of a second, a fraction of an inch, or a fraction of a point. Likewise, and more important, the champions didn’t win by training twice as hard as their opponents. If another gymnast trains six hours a day, I can’t train twelve hours a day. Twelve hours a day in a gym just isn’t healthy! But I can train six hours and fifteen minutes a day. This is where giving it that little extra and going the extra mile makes the difference.
In whatever you want to improve upon, whether it be schoolwork, athletics, music, or studying the scriptures, just give a little extra—every day. Fifteen minutes a day for one year add up to over ninety-one hours. I only use fifteen minutes as an example of how time well-spent can add up. I know that I would be a better individual if I applied this more in other important areas of my life. I sincerely hope and pray that I do this.
There is another little sign in President Kimball’s office. This one reads: “Don’t quit.” We are all going to have hardships and setbacks. But Heavenly Father will not give us a hardship that we cannot overcome. Behind many Olympic champions are stories of incredible hardships that had to be overcome. Just this past summer, many of us had the opportunity to see an American win his country’s first gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling. We saw this big guy crying tears of joy as he stood on that victory stand. Just two years before, he had undergone a serious operation for a rare form of cancer. He never gave up. Now he is an Olympic champion.
As children of our Father in Heaven, we can have setbacks of sin. But we must never quit or give up hope. Heavenly Father has provided a way to overcome spiritual setbacks through the great gift of repentance. He truly loves us and wants to forgive us. All we have to do is to go through the process of repentance, and we will triumph over our mistakes.
I have talked today about pursuing excellence in all areas of our lives. I don’t stand here as a shining example of that. I have achieved a wonderful thing in the world of sports. I only pray I can do better in other, more important areas of my life.
I do know of the importance of setting your goals very high, for if you do this, your intermediate goals should be easier to reach. By setting my sights on the Olympics, I found it easier to become a state or college champion because I always knew I had to improve.
Let’s not settle for mediocrity. Let’s always try our best. Let us decide now what type of person we want to be, and when a difficult situation comes along we will be prepared to pass the test.
I feel very blessed that at a young age I was taught the importance of keeping the Word of Wisdom. I committed myself to keeping that commandment. I remember a very prestigious competition in Germany, when I won the vaulting event. As I stood on the victory stand, I received a gold medal, flowers, and gifts. I couldn’t have been more pleased.
Before walking off of the stand, I noticed another individual coming forward with a silver cup, and I thought, “How great! Another prize!” But as the presenter moved closer with this cup, I noticed it was full of wine.
Turning to my German friend and competitor, I asked what it was for, and he explained that tradition calls for the champion to drink out of the cup and to pass it to the next athlete.
I told him, “Well, I don’t drink.”
He responded with: “Then just take a little sip and hand it to the next person.”
Then I explained, “No, it’s against my religion, and I can’t even take a sip.”
My friend proceeded to explain to the officials in German that I wouldn’t drink it, but for some reason they insisted I take the cup.
So I took the cup and held it high in the air for the crowd to see. And then, without taking a sip, I handed it down to the next person. I admit that amidst the laughter of the crowd I felt a bit embarrassed, but I felt proud that it was easy to say no. I believe that if we make proper decisions before we are faced with a temptation, we will find it much easier to resist that temptation.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize keeping a proper perspective on our goals. Let us never lose sight of the gospel in pursuing our temporal ambitions. We didn’t come to this world to become Olympic champions, or great doctors, lawyers, or businessmen, or to become rich and famous. We came here to prove ourselves worthy of returning back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. We came here to set and reach the highest goal possible.
I know how hard I worked to compete in the Olympics. At times I trained as much as six hours a day, six days a week. It sometimes seemed it took all of my energy and resources. I think I’m beginning to realize how serious my commitment to the Lord’s work must be if I am to receive God’s greatest gift. Indeed, it will take all of my talent, energy, and resources—my heart, might, mind, and strength—to earn and receive eternal life.
Just imagine what it’s like to be an Olympic champion! Imagine the feeling of having that medal placed around your neck as you stand on the victory platform. It’s a feeling I can’t describe. But let’s realize one more thing. We can all have an experience infinitely greater than that. If we prove worthy, we will return to our Heavenly Father’s presence.
I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Christ lives. I know that Spencer W. Kimball is a living prophet of God. I have so much to be thankful for. My temple marriage to my beautiful wife is worth more than all the gold in the world.
I know I have a long way to go, but I pray that I may always improve and someday be found worthy of all the blessings that Heavenly Father has in store for those that truly serve him, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.