December 20, 2015

  so this week was so crazy! we had the missionary Christmas party with all of us in the mission! i got to meet up with my whole MTC district! they are champions! and i will sent pictures but i got a picture with four missionaries and we are all from weber high! YYYAAA go weber high! i get to talk with you guys this week! i am really looking forward to it! i even got my hair cut today;) i got a bunch of packages from home! you guys spoil me so much! thank you thank you thank you! i haven't opened any of them yet because they all so don't open until Christmas! i wont lie i was really tempted! but im holding out! 

     so this week we were in a members home giving a spiritual thought and my phone started to buzz so i pulled it out to turn it off and i read the name  "PRESIDENT MAXWELL" my heart sunk, he never calls specific missionaries unless there is news! so we ducked out real quick and when i answered he sounded really sad and almost hesitant! i was so nervous i thought he was going to tell me something about my family! but he said that there is an emergency transfer and they need someone to fill a hole in a different area. so i will be leaving tomorrow to go to a place called church hill park! i don't know anything about my new companion except he has only been out for three weeks so i will be finishing training him! and i have been told that the ward im going to is fantastic! the elder that left was the district leader and so i will be filling his role of district leader, and that's all i know right now! but i will give you more information when i call on Christmas! 

     i wont be able to set up the call until tomorrow because i don't know anything about the new area but i will get to you soon! 

     oh so good news cassie and her family came to church this week! it was so amazing! the speakers were awesome and they seemed to enjoy it! but they left very quickly after sacrament because of the heat! it was around 90 something degrees inside the chapel! we were getting cooked! but we are really excited that they are progressing! i am sad that i am leaving them at this point but elder liu is fantastic and he will carry on the work! 

     i have a picture on my camera of the temperature this Thursday! it hit 43 degrees C. which is 109 degrees F. so it was pretty warm! but where ever we went people let us in to stay out of the heat haha! we were using the weather to our advantage! 

     sorry that this letter is so short i ran out of time! but i have been focusing my studies on the prophets and apostles words and on the new testament the last few weeks! i have really learned a lot about the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ! that is the greatest gift we could ever be given! he is always there for us to strengthen and lift us! he knows who i am and my faults and weakness but also my strengths! and he will use all of them for my good! MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone that reads this! i hope you have an amazing Christ centred Christmas! i love you all! 

love elder wiser

December 13, 2015

Hello Everyone

Sorry I am really short on emailing time but I will try to give you the best summery ever! So last p-day we went to this place called One Thousand Steps, I thought 'hey only one thousand steps I probably ran like 50 thousand when I was in wrestling." so we take off up these steps and that was when I truly realized how out of shape I am!!!! :( at like two hundred I was breathing hard! darn-it. But it's okay, the place was so beautiful! it's like being in the middle of the rain forest! 

     On Wednesday we got a call to help out with the demolition of a members home! so Elder Liu and I got hammers and sledge hammers and went to town tearing out everything we could! It was a blast. The inside of the walls had been completely eaten out by termites and it was all mouldy and stuff so it was really easy to rip everything out! 

    So awkward moment for the week! Two months ago we were trying to meet with these two boys named Troy and Piolo, they are brothers, and they seemed really interested but when we knocked on the door the dad came to the door and told us to leave, he was a Baptist and he didn't want us confusing his children. We were persistent for a while about letting his children choose for themselves but it wasn't getting us anywhere. So we left and the father was very unhappy at us. 

Okay now to this week! We were invited to go to the Rimando family for dinner again, the same family that I broke the guitar string and Elder Liu shatterd the glass all over the food at dinner. So we show up and he says that he invited his brother that we have never met. His brother walked in and both Elder Liu and I recognized him but we couldn't remember where from and so we just sat quietly trying to remember and then his two sons showed up, and there names were Troy and Piolo and then it all clicked! This man sitting across the table from us had told us to leave his family alone and now we were sitting across the table awkwardly trying to talk and be friends haha! His wife had no idea and neither did the Rimando family! There was some tension not going to lie! but we shared a message about how God loves everyone out of the bible, so it wouldn't upset them more. but what a small world haha! 

     So this week we met with Cassie and her family and they are still progressing, but very slowly :( its heart breaking. they are doing really well with the lessons but church is still not a priority for them! we will keep trying though!

    Tiffany and Brodie, they have a fear of church and are very sensitive so if we ask them to come to church they feel like they are being pushed to get there! I wish that they could see it was all out of love for them but we will meet with them again and see if they still have a desire.

     Ross was too sick last week to meet with him! He was in and out of the hospital:( but this week should be alright! 

this week was wonderful though! I continue to learn more and more about life and people and the gospel! I'm so glad that I am able to be on a mission! it is the greatest thing that I could be doing! I have learned so much by studying the conference talks! The gospel is simple, and it all relates back to Jesus Christ! He is the foundation! all of the commandments and rules that we are given can all be related back to Christ and his love and us showing our love to him by obedience! I love the gospel so much! the church is true! the prophets and apostles are called of God to lead the church through perilous times! and Heavenly Father loves every single one of his children! have an amazing week 

Love Elder Wiser

This is at One Thousand Steps

When I was on echanges with elder theurer we went to the bug mans house! these are leaf bugs and they just crawl all over the place

and this lovely dish of food was fried pork belly mixed with jellied pork blood . . . . . it actually didn't taste to bad, its a Pilipino dish

Adventures of Tuffy! I found a Pomeranian shiatsu down under

December 6, 2015

Hello Everyone

 

So there is an Aussie term "she'll be right" and it basically means that everything is okay so go away;) people say this a lot when they want to get us off there porch "she'll be right mate she'll be right"!

      So Elder Liu and I made a really good goal this week! We decided to run every single morning, so we have been waking up early so we have enough time to run this loop that is about 2.5 miles. That's not very long but the hills here are so steep that we basically crawl up them:) and then slide down the other side =) 

     So this week we had a ward Christmas party! After some debate between going to a lake or a public swimming pool and some other ideas, the ward decided to have a huge BBQ. It was so hot, it was such a cool experience! A bunch of the youth set up a big Christmas tree and talked about all of the symbols of Christmas and where we got all of the traditions, and then about the real meaning of Christmas! and best of all Cassie and her family came! I think they had a really good experience and the four daughters have all made friends with girls their age in the ward! So Elder Liu and I were really excited about it! Cassie and her family is doing really good! We're going to have to move there baptisimal date back because some stuff came up and they couldn't get to church :( but they said they are coming next week! 

    Tiffany and Brodie didn't come to church ether! They really enjoy the lessons but they say they have anxiety of the large group of people:( so we will just keep working on them!

     But we had a really cool experience this week. We had an appt. at a public park that we had high hopes for but it fell through. So we walked around and started talking with everyone and this lady invited us to sit down with her family strait away! Her name is Clare, she has had a really tough life and is just starting to turn it around! After we got to talking we figured out that she has been trying to find God! We shared with her the plan of salvation and sang the hymn "Families Can Be Together Forever" right there in the middle of the public park! We have way high hopes for them! it built my testimony that even though things might seem bad, there can be good that comes out of it! I cannot comprehend how God works, but I do know that when I trust him everything works out! He loves us and knows what is best for us! and he will take care of us! no matter what! I feel so blessed that I have been raised in a home that has the gospel! and I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to be sharing what has made my family so happy! I am also so glad that we have prophets and apostles on the earth today! I have been reading the conference talks over and over again and they words and ideas that were spoken came from God! One thing that has stood out to me lately is that the gospel is simple! I think Uchtdorf puts it best when he says "if the gospel isn't working for you, then simplify" can I give you all a challenge? this goes to everyone that reads this, go back and read the general conference talks again out of the November Ensign! will you do it? the talks truly apply to our daily issues. and the spirit will bear testimony of the simple truths that can help as you read the talks again! I love you all have an amazing week!

Love Elder Wiser

P.S. Sister Adams daughter-in-law, Tara Adams is coming to Utah next week. She is leaving on the 13th and she is bringing a package from me to you:) What a nice lady! She said that she would be willing to bring anything back home with her. 

I love you mom! I am praying for you and your surgery!  I hope you can feel them ;) 

AND I GOT YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!! I love it! that is the greatest thing ever, and I have received a bunch of ornaments, it's all set up in my flat I will send you a picture! I love you

love your best son that has brown hair and the same foot problems;)

Elder Wiser

this is our ward Christmas activity! its a BBQ!

this is some tag art from another pday on mount Dandenong!

this house went all out on Christmas! but the family was wearing shorts and t-shirts and got sunburnt when they were putting them up haha

I got the Christmas tree! thank you so much to everyone that sent the little ornaments! your guys are so amazing! I love you I love you I love you! it makes me so happy!

lexis mom deb bought us Christmas gifts =)

November 29, 2015

hey everyone!

so we have transfers this week. elder Liu and I are both staying in the Mooroolbark area for another transfer! we are both so excited. and Happy Thanksgiving last week! i am thankful for all of you back home! there is a wonderful family (the McDonald) that puts on thanksgiving for all of the Americans in the ward! Bro McDonald is from America and he served his mission in Melbourne and returned after his mission to get married, and they made everything gluten free so that i could have turkey and gravy! it was wonderful! 

      the Rimando family, the ones i broke the guitar string at, invited us over again but for dinner this time. it was a birthday party so they invited a bunch of there non-member family and they made this huge Pilipino dinner for us, they use heaps of spices and it was very good. but something always goes wrong when we go there, elder liu stood up to shake someone's hand and he knocked over this tall glass full of orange juice and it fell right onto all of the food and shattered all over the table. i felt so bad for him, he turned bright red and just kept looking down! but we got everything cleaned up and ended up having an awesome night, we sang hymns and said all of the blessing that heavenly father gives to us and all the things we were thankful for!

     update on tiffany and brodie, they are progressing really well, we have been continuing to meet with them, tiffany has a very large fear of big groups of people so church is a bit of a challenge at the moment, but as she grow there faith and testimony she will begin to enjoy it. and next time were going to sit on the front row so that she can not see anyone and hopefully she wont panic! they have a baptisimal date for January 2.

    i don't know if i have told you about cassie and her family for a long time, she was the lady that elder liu and i gave the blessing to on the first lesson. there family has been really excited about meeting with us! the father is less active and has been since he was 16 but he sits in on the lessons with us. they have four girls Chloe, Sarah, Teneille, and Olivia. the mom and three of the girls are working for the baptisimal date on the 19th of December! Olivia the youngest is only 5. i will update you more on them next week! 

    and update on lexi, so she is still doing awesome! this sunday we helped her to pay her tithing and then she had an interview with the bishop for her temple recommend and she will be going to do baptisms for the dead this Tuesday! she is so excited to go to the temple and its because her fellowship Natasha Brooks has been such a wonderful example and has been bearing her testimony to lexi and helping her to feel comfortable! when members are active in missionary work it makes all the difference! so i would like to challenge everyone at home to help welcome new members and investigators to the ward it will bless you and the investigator! i love missionary work! it is the greatest! and i love the gospel! have an amazing week everyone! 

love elder wiser

so we got word on Saturday that elder liu will be staying in Mooroolbark, and I will be also staying in Mooroolbark for our third transfer!!! we are stoked! and our whole district is staying as well!

this is the adams family

brother david adams is our ward mission leader! and his wife sue adams takes such good care of us they are so amazing! so I taught them how to do a wrestler photo! sis adams almost got it right!

these are two wonderful families

so the one outside is ryan and mary Miranda with neal is the father and the daughters name is isabella! they are the people that organize meals for us everyday!

this is the unwin family! peter served his mission in Arizona and southern Utah! they are fantastic!

November 22, 2015

So this week started out with a zone p-day! Our zone is making a missionary version of "a bugs life" and so we all dressed up in these ridiculously ghetto costumes and made a really funny little video, I was a grasshopper so I had to act all mean and tough and boss all of the ants around! The random people watching us film it probably have some weird views of the LDS church haha. 

So this week I went on exchanges with an Elder named Elder Theurer (tire) and we are so alike, we are both from Utah and love fly fishing and we are both going to Utah state when we get home! He wants to be an oral surgeon and I want to be an orthodontist. But for crazy experiences for the week. Elder Liu and I were talking to people at the train station and after two hours we decided to go. So when we got back in the car I had a really big feeling that we needed to go back, so I asked Elder Liu if we could just walk through the station one more time. and the first person we talked to was this older lady sitting at the bus stop. she was really sad and felt like God hated her, so we just kept bearing testimony that God loves her and its never to late to change, and after a minute of talking to her she mention a psychiatric hospital, and it turns out that she had ran away from the hospital and she didn't want to go back and if she didn't go back then the police would be sent to find her and lock her up! so Elder Liu and I just kept talking to her and called a member from the ward to come and give us all a ride to the hospital. She really didn't want to go and so we just kept showing her little pictures of Jesus and quoting little scriptures and that seemed to calm her down! and so we finally got her back into the hospital. 

     

So we had some bad news, Isabell that girl we have been working with doesn't want to learn anymore. She feels like there are to many rules that she can't keep, and so she dropped us. We were devastated, but its probably not her time, the Lord has perfect timing and when she is ready to receive the gospel it will be presented to her. We are going to keep in contact with her still. 

     And some good news, we got in contact with a girl named tiffany and her boyfriend Brodie. We haven't been able to meet with them before because they kept dodging us, but we finally caught them at home and the spirit touched them and now they are really excited to learn more. i will keep you updated on how they are going!

    But my testimony has grown so much this week about the lords timing, sometimes we want things to happen now or maybe later or in a different order, but the lord knows best. and if we trust in him and continue to do the things that we are supposed to be doing then He will send miracles! we are all children of Heavenly Father and he loves us! and knowing that gives me great strength in every aspect of my life!

I love you all

trust in God

love Elder Wiser

this is elder Theurer he is from salt lake city Utah! he is the man!

here is some scenic pictures of Australia! this is on exhanges so it is not in our area :)

this is a birthday cake that i had to take a picture of because of Shelby!

November 15, 2015

So the Australian line that Elder Liu and I have been using this week is "flat out like a lizard drinking" and apparently it means you are really busy! so this week we have been flat out like a lizard drinking!! so lexi was confirmed a member of the church this Sunday and she asked me to do it! im not going to lie I was a little nervous to give her a blessing in front of the whole ward, I kept imagining myself like sneezing into the microphone or something really awkward like that! but after a prayer for confidence I got through it and everything went over smoothly! and the meeting after was so amazing! it was all about the spirit and how when we are worthy the spirit can bless us! lexi was beaming at the end! 

     so this week we had a huge service project out in the bush! the bush looks like the jungle and it is so green! but this house had been completely over grown with vegetation! there were four men with whipper snippers (weed wacker) and they just hacked everything and we put them into big piles and burned them! I think I was enjoying the fire to much and I was letting it get a little big so they gave me the special job of sweeping the roof! so I officially got banished from the fire :(

     so we met with cassie the lady that was sick and we gave her a blessing and her family again! we went through the restoration and they are really excited to get baptised! now all we have to do is get through the rest of the lessons! there are prepared people everywhere its just a matter of finding them! 

   so this week elder liu and I had a goal to sing a hymn with everyone that we taught a lesson to! and I really struggle with finding the right starting note and elder liu and I can never sing the same notes but we still sang with every family! it was always a Capella and it never sounded all that amazing but the words of the hymns invite the spirit in! I understand why we sing so much at church! I love singing and i have been really trying to focus on every word in the song, and if i don't understand it, I look it up! and it has really changed my view! we can learn so much from the hymns! so im going to give you a challenge! next time you sing a hymn, try to understand every word, and if it doesn't make sense then look it up! it will make sacrament meeting even more special and significant! i honestly love going to church! there is a spiritual experience every week as long as you are looking for it! the lord can answer our prayers in so many ways, and through the testimony of others is a big one! i love my mission so much! im having such a good time and im learning so much everyday! i love you all and i hope that you are having an amazing week! the church is true and we can find the most happiness by following EVERY gospel principal and EVERYTHING that the prophets and apostles say. they are truly men of god. 

i love you all 

keep the commandments :)

love elder wiser

we found a Christmas tree in our flat and we though this would be an appropriate decoration!

I played the accordion! I actually played I "stand all amazed" it was so great!

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!