November 8, 2015

WOW!  I know I say this like every week but this week was crazy! Early in the week we went over and did service for this lady named Patsy, she is a non-member, her friend was there that was a member, Sister Trenos. I am pretty sure that we moved every piece of furniture in her house, it was like a huge puzzle trying to figure out what door was big enough to fit the giant couches through and how to slide the huge dressers along the floor without destroying everything. But when we finished we asked her to share her favourite scripture and then we would do the same, and when we read out of the Book of Mormon she wanted nothing to do with it, but after bearing testimony, explaining, and bearing testimony some more, she finally took a copy of the Book of Mormon. Later in the week we ran into Sister Trenos and she said that she had been trying for years to give Patsy a Book of Mormon and she wanted nothing to do with it, but when we all bore testimony and the spirit was there, her heart was softened and she accepted it, miracle.

       We had a pretty funny experience while tracting this week. We were knocking this street and it was starting to get dark, and we usually stop when it gets dark but for some reason I just wanted to keep going, so we kept going and kept going and we finally knocked on the last door for the night. This lady came to the front window and said what do you want through the window, and so we started to tell her we were missionaries and what our purpose was, and she still wouldn't open the door, so we just went into the plan of salvation and started teaching her that there is life after this one! and she still wouldn't open the door, and so after about twenty minutes of us talking through the window we offered her a pamphlet with our information on it and she opened the door and continued to talk with us, but when we tried to set a return appointment she said no like six times. I remembered back when dad was teaching us about "alternate close" so I just said "do weekends or week days work better?" and she said week days, and then I said "okay you probably have work so afternoons might be hard so we will stop by Wednesday at five o'clock" and she started to laugh because of our persistence and finally gave in! So we are going back to meet with her again!!! yay haha persistence is real! 

      LEXI WAS BAPTISED, it was such an amazing day. Her mom and her brother came to the baptism to support her and she was so happy. she said, "I have heard people say how amazing their baptism was but I couldn't understand how getting dunked in water could be so great, but now I know, and it is amazing." She was smiling so big. The spirit was so strong. The gospel brings such a great and mighty change in the lives of those who choose to live it! She asked me to give a talk on the holy ghost and Elder Liu and I and two other missionaries sang come follow me. Elder Liu was really nervous to baptise her and he mixed up some of the words and so they had to do it twice, but Lexi said she was happy she got to be put under the water twice because the water felt so good! and Isabell, one of the other investigators, came to the baptism and we set an apt. to meet with her this week! such a blessing.

    This week we had stake conference and Elder Paul Coward from the seventy came and spoke! Even though his last name is Coward he is probably the most bold man I have ever heard! He was clutching the pulpit and shaking his fists, and he didn't have any notes. He just went back and talked about general conference and how we should not just watch but rewatch and memorize all that our prophet and apostles are saying! Then he started calling people out of the crowd to share what they had learned. One man said that he had been trying to ponderize a scripture every week and then Elder Coward told him to stand up and tell over 800 people what scripture he was focusing on! and this guy without hesitating busted out his scripture! It was so cool! but we truly have a living prophet on the earth today and it is important what they share with us! and so I would invite everyone who reads this to go back and listen to at least one conference talk, if not more! I know that President Monson is the only man that can receive revelation for the whole church and that by listening to him we can draw closer to Jesus Christ! I love you all! have an amazing week

Love Elder Wiser

This is at lexi's baptism :) she didn't get confirmed this week because we had stake conference, so she will be confirmed next Sunday

We always use this magic trick of pulling off our thumbs to get the children to pay attention haha

This is another huge spider, over Elder Liu's bed! we had an epic battle with insect repellent, blue window cleaner, and some shampoo, but we finally killed it!

November 1, 2015

How ya going! (air gun may) if you say "air gun may" in a fast nasal voice it sounds exactly like every Australian! hahah. This week has been so good.  Monday the brooks family invited us and Lexi over for family home evening. So Lexi was able to see how the gospel works in the family. The family wanted to give the lesson, and they gave a very fun lesson about being thankful for Gods creations (nature). We all had a great time singing and drawing pictures! When we first met Lexi she was way shy, but she is coming out of her shell, at family home evening she sang confidently along with us a primary song that she had never heard before! I wouldn't even do that - haha.

     Tuesday we had a Halloween activity for the three wards that meet at the chapel! It was a trunk or treat. So background on Australia and Halloween, some people hate Halloween and then most people just think its dumb and only a few people actually participate, so when some brave kids actually do dress up and go and knock on doors for lollys, nobody really gives out candy. That is why the ward puts on the trunk or treat so that the kids have a good environment to dress up and eat candy! A lot of people showed up I think there was over three hundred people and a lot of them brought along there friends that had never been to a church before, so that was fantastic! 

   Awkward moment of the week! We have been working with this less active family for a while and they finally started to let us in. So we are sitting on there couch and I was searching for something that we had in common so that we could relate to eachother. and behind the couch I spotted a guitar, and im not good at guitar but I thought I would try, so I asked if I could see it for a second and I started to play some of the chords I remembered from home. but the guitar was just a little out of tune, so I figured out which string was of and gave it a half twist to tighten it up . . . .  and it snapped! I had just picked up someone elses guitar and snapped the string on it. Awsome, I felt so dumb and was bright red im sure of it! so next time I will not tighten a guitar!

    This week we had a really amazing experience! a few weeks ago when I was on exchanges Elder Liu ran into a lady (Cassie) that has been suffering from a sickness and nobody can find out what it is! She gave her information to Elder Liu on a card and at the end of this week Elder Liu found it and had a very strong urge that we needed to go. So when we found a spare minute in the day, we went to Cassies home! Her and her husband invited us in and very quickly we found out that she knew nothing about the church, but her husband is a member but he hadn't gone since he was 16 and so he never talked to his wife about it. When she answered the door she had been crying because of the pain she was in and so we went over the restoration of the priesthood very quickly and then gave her a blessing! Elder Liu anointed and I gave the blessing and it was a very spiritual experience! The blessing told her that she was going to be alright and that her family had no reason to worry! it was an amazing experience! We are going back this week to talk with her more! and having that experience caused me to think about how thankful I am that I was able to grow up in a home with the priesthood! thank you Dad for being a worthy holder of the priesthood, you are such an example to me. I am very grateful that I was able to receive blessings when I was sick, anxious, and when I just needed some extra help! The priesthood is the power of God, it was restored through Joseph Smith and I am thankful that I am able to live in a time when it is on the earth! I love you all so much and I hope you have an amazing week!

love Elder Wiser

this was a Halloween trunk or treat at the church and there was so many people! and this was a giant snake that I really wanted to be put around my neck! first a giant spider and second a giant snake :)

so the picture with the three girls. The one on the right is named Therese Hird and she is a member and the two girls with her are non member friends! yay member missionary work! the girl on the left is Isabella the girl that we have been meeting with.

this is a cute picture with spider-girl haha she is the funniest little girl!

and the picture with the family. so this is the Brooks family. They are the first family that I saw when I got to Australia, I hadn't showered for three days because of being in airports and we hadn't gone back to the flat yet so my suitcases were still in the car, but they made me feel so welcomed! and they are the fellowship family for Lexi!

and this is the award we won for being the "best LDS costume" at the trunk or treat hahaha

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.