October 25, 2015

Gooday mate, from "Straya" (that's exactly how they say Australia)

Hey Everyone,

      So Mom, just so you know, they really take care of me down here! The ward has an obsession with trying out new gluten free meals, I get feed so much! I will eat dinner and then some other members will call us over and send us home with food, and then members just drop of heaps of food at the flat! So you don't have to worry about me getting fed down here!

Down under is great! I am really happy to stay in the area, it feels like people are finally starting to warm up to elder liu and I and so it feels like things are going now! The people here are really nice, its quite a different culture to Utah but the members are really strong and are really willing to help, in this ward anyway! I feel like I could be more effective, and I could be a better teacher but that is all a part of the learning curve I guess, so I just continue to study and try things out, I probably have changed but I still feel like the same human, does that make sense? like I am probably changing but slowly, I learn so much every day though, so much! I have learned heaps from my companions, especially Elder Liu about being attention to the little details and picking up on small hints and feelings! I love Elder Liu! I don't really think there is anything that I need! the members are really good to take care of my every need, I feel bad that people go so far out of there way to help me! 

    So this week was a little slow because it's the end of school and everyone has exams and so it seemed like nobody wanted to meet with us, especially the members. But we had lots of exciting things happen this week. To start off, one night we stopped by a less active mans home and he was having a bomb fire out in the back so we were sitting on some logs chatting with him and I felt this crawling feeling on my ankle, but he was in the middle of telling me a story and I didn't want to break eye contact so I didn't look down and told myself that it was just some grass touching my sock. After about five or so minutes I felt it again but this time it was right below my knee, so I casually looked down and saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life sprawled out on my leg!!! I wish I could say that I was manly but I honestly screamed like a little girl. haha I'm pathetic, because right after I hit it off my leg the guy just picked it up and was holding it! so I sent some pictures for you to see!

      On Saturday night we stopped by a BBQ (elders quorum activity) and they had a lamb on a spit turning over the fire and just reaching in and cutting pieces off. It was so good! but I found out some funny things this week, Australians think that wrestling is the weirdest thing in the world. They asked me if I like American football (they just call it gridiron) and I told them that my sport was wrestling and they just kind of give a real awkward nod and change the conversation! so I just tell people that I love to hunt and fish! 

   But there was a miracle this week! All of your prayers have been answered! Lexi met with us this week and said that her moms heart was softened and is allowing her to get baptised!!!!!! and the mom (Deb) wants to come so we set the date for Nov 7th so the mom could attend! Lexi is doing so good, she has changed from a shy quiet girl that never left her house to a really happy bubbly confident girl that is busy! She just got her first job! She overheard her mom telling one of her friends "Lexi is doing so good now, she is so much happier and she got a job . . . . its because of the Mormons" haha I about died when Lexi told me that! so we are really exited for that.

     Update on Isabel, there family is moving houses constantly and so they never have anytime to meet up with us. We just keep trying so set appts. So sooner or later she will accept! It's only a matter of time! she comes to church every Sunday with her friend so that is good! But it is all on the Lords time.

    So I had a really spiritual experience at church this Sunday! In class we were talking about the tree of life, and how we should never leave the safety of the tree and go to wander the halls of the great and spacious building. But one of the members said! It's not that we can't leave the tree! We need to get a pot, plant our own tree of life and carry that thing with us where ever we go, sometimes we find ourselves in situations that are not very good! But if we take the gospel and the spirit with us and plant little trees of life where ever we go, then everything will be alright! I really liked that! The gospel is there to strengthen us in times of need! all we have to do is live it! The gospel is such a blessing and I am so happy that I get to take two years of my life and spread the joy that it brings to Australia! I love you all! have an amazing week!

Love Elder Wiser!

this was such a geat reunion, it was at transfer meeting! this is almost everyone from the mtc except elder porter and sister Johnson.

so this is my mission grandad!!!! elder Lindsay he trained elder liu and elder liu trained me haha

so this is the huntsman spider! they can get as big as my hand haha

October 18, 2015

How is it going back in the big US? So this week was so busy! The ward council gave us 52 names that they want us to check up on, and make sure they are still alive! so we have been busting through that list! but we got transfer news this week!  I have been packing............the fridge because we are both staying in the mighty Mooroolbark area! its going to be another great transfer! 

      

So update on Lexi, we met with her a few times this week and she so prepared! we talked to her about missionary work and the importance of prayer and the Book of Mormon, and she just kept saying that she knows its what she is suppost to be doing and she explained it by saying "I'm like a moth going toward a bright light, I just cant stay away" and she keeps talking with her mom! her moms heart hasn't been softened yet, but I think if Lexi bears her powerful testimony to her mom then her mom will feel the spirit! it's amazing what the spirit can do to people!

     

Isabell has been really busy with moving this last week, so we haven't been able to meet up with her for a while, but she showed up at church and we set up an apt. of later this week! So I will let you know how it goes next week!

     

I don't know if I told you about Tiffany, but Tiffany is the daughter of Sheridan. Sheridan was baptised last year! and we have been trying to meet with Tiffany but she is always at her boyfriends house ..... so we will just keep trying! 

    

Funny experience for the week! We went on exhanges, and I was with Elder Solomon from NZ. As missionaries we sleep in the same room on different beds, and it turns out that Elder Solomon snores! but this isn't like normal snoring, or even really bad snoring, this is like TERRIBLE snoring!!!! Like to paint a picture in your mind, after about an hour of listening to him snore I had to pretend that I was motorcycling and his snoring was the engine to fall asleep haha but It kept waking me up. Do you know what blue tak is? It's like clay and you put it on the back of pictures and stick them to the wall! well I went into the living room at 2:00 in the morning and pulled all of the pictures of the wall and harvested the bluetak until I had enough to make earplugs hahah! so I slept with clay in me ears! 

    

But this week has been amazing, this Sunday there were heaps of less actives that came to church for the first time in months! We were really happy to see them there! church is amazing! I look forward to church every week! its so nice to just sit down and feel the spirit! it really is like recharging your spiritual batteries! I love this gospel so much! I pray for all of you! I love you all! have a great week

Love, Elder Wiser

so we made this stress ball out of balloons and ....... wheat flour. and it decided it wanted to explode all over me in the car haha #celiac4life

and elder liu and I thought we were ninjas for a little while.

this is the lunch of a life time! is a bacon egg cheese burger toped with more bacon and with a side of bacon and a extra large mountain dew!!!

look how big this remote controlled car is!! its a 2 stroke haha it is so loud!

October 11, 2015

Hey everyone! 

This week was another good one! on P-day we had a zone BBQ and played heaps of sports in the blistering heat! I played my first game of touch rugby, and I was the only white guy. . . .and at that I am a really small white guy playing a game that I don't really understand with a bunch of huge islanders! Even though it was only touch I still would get mowed over by Samoans that couldn't stop their momentum! It was so fun! 

    

This week I got the wonderful opportunity to meet with the mission president! Don't worry I didn't do anything wrong, every three months the mission president meets with every missionary in the mission! I don't know how he can do it, but he is the kindest man! He remembered quite a lot about me and my hobbies and the family! We didn't have very long to talk but he just asked how everyone at home was doing, and then encouraged me to keep trying my best! He said a quote that I have heard all throughout my life "Rome wasn't built in a day" and its true! We can't be perfect from the get go! "the purpose of life is to GRADUALLY learn and grow to be perfect" that is a quote from conference!

     so cool experience for the week! Elder Liu and I got three referrals from members and for some reason we couldn't remember one of them. It was really frustrating, we wanted to contact that referral but neither of us could remember who it was. So we sat there for ten minutes running through the week and throwing out every name we could think of, but still nothing came. So, I decided that a prayer was needed. So I said a very short prayer "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless that we can remember, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." and at the exact moment that I said amen, Elder Liu stood up and said the referrals name, who had given us the referral, and the back story of the referral! Now that is an instant answer to prayer! sometimes the Lord is just waiting for us to ask! he wants to bless us, but we have to take the step of faith and ask! 

   So update on Lexi! We taught her the law of the tithe and the law of chastity and she is honestly so prepared! She just keeps saying that this is what she needs in her life! We were worried that she was just blindy following whatever we said, but she keeps telling us all of her spiritual experiences with prayer! She has a really strong testimony about Joseph Smith and prayer! Her mom is the nicest lady but she doesn't want Lexi to be rushed into baptism! So we called her on Saturday and ended up having a 30 minute lesson over the phone, her concerns  were polygamy and tithing but after assuring her that we don't believe in having more than one wife and then explaining more about tithing, she started to soften up! So we asked again if she would allow Lexi to get baptised and she said....... no! and so we are still working with her! but Lexi has such a desire learn that it will all work out! She came to conference on Sunday morning and she was really impressed, she came with a question about her education and she got an answer! The church is true and the prophets and apostles are called of God! I love you all have an amazing week! oh and I have a challenge for you! "Ponderize" 1 scripture this week!

this is the big Maroondah zone! love them all! we had a zone BBQ

so I think I might be from a small town in Utah because this is the first "Drive Through Alcohol store"! ya you don't even have to get out of your car to get drunk!

and this is some Halloween decorations that were set up! we thought we were funny!

this is a shout out to my bacon loving little sister! so Shelby, this is Australian bacon.... ya its huge.  that is the biggest pan we have and only three pieces of bacon fit in it

we don't buy bacon by the pound, we buy it by the kilo so they are just massive!

October 4, 2015

Its been another good week! so there has been a time change. We jumped an hour ahead down here, and didn't you guys fall back an hour? so our time change is even bigger! and it was conference weekend for you all, they will show conference this next coming sunday! I am honestly so excited! I cant wait!

      So this week we did heaps of service, we went to this less active family that haven't had contact from the church in like twenty years! but they had a bunch of huge trees fall over in their 10 acre property! so he asked if we would help him chop it all up and stack it! and so we started chopping away, but we had a lot of wood to get through and not that much time to do it! so I started to go as hard as I could! and after an hour or so of swinging as hard as I could, I looked down and my hands were bleeding! since I don't get to work in the yard anymore my hands have gone all soft and I lost all of my "callouses" (I don't know if that is how you spell that) but the tough bumps on my hands were gone! and so the axe made my hands bleed all over! it was all good so we kept chopping! but apparently we don't know how to stack wood because after we stacked a huge old pile ..... it fell over and we got to restack it hahah! the wife was very thankful that we helped them out so she cooked us a meal. I told her I was allergic to wheat and she assured me it would only be fish and vegetables! so I start eating this meal and it was delicious, it was salmon and some fried vegetables on this rice! and after eating the whole plate I asked what kind of rice it was, and she said "oh that's not rice darling that's pasta" ......... darn it ... it was rice shaped wheat! the man that invented that pasta must have hated gluten free people! i had already eaten heaps of wheat so i just finished the rest of it!

    So update on Lexi, we couldn't get in contact with her last weekend and so this Tuesday we decided to just stop by her house! she ended up being home and she felt so bad because she went into like a depression thing and didn't leave her room for three days and that's why she didn't make it to church or to the baptism! and she felt like we would be mad so she stopped answering our calls. but since we dropped by we assured here that we weren't man and then we ended up teaching her the word of wisdom! and guess what! she made a promise to herself years ago that she would never drink smoke.... and you guessed it drink coffee or tea! beacause she saw what they did to her mom! she was already living it even though nobody had ever told her! so she is just awesome but her mom doesn't really want her to get baptised until she is eighteen:( so we are working with the mom and resolving concerns. 

    We met with a new investigator named Isabell she is a member referral and she is so prepaired! sorry I am running out of time, I will update you on isabell next week! but I know that this gospel is true, and i love sharing it with people! one of my favourite scriptures to share with people is 3 NE 18:19-20 anything that we ask the father, as long as it is right, and as long as we have faith we can receive it! Heavenly Father WILL answer our prayers. I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week. 

love Elder Wiser

So this is our diverse district. from left to right (Fiji, Samoa, Taiwan, new Zealand, south Korea, America)

After Elder Liu learned how to do the "basic white girl" I thought I would teach him how to do moms version of basic white girl!

Ya that is a gluten free chicken and leek pie! a member made it for me! so awesome!

This whole house was covered in vine! we trimmed the whole thing with hand sheers! it was great!

This is lexi!

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.

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.

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!