July 29th, 2013

Hey guys!! :) ah man good to hear you partied at home ha happy b-day angie! ah man i feel like so much has happend this week.. im glad you got to talk to amos :) good to hear all is well there :) i cant beleive he is getting married!! whooo! man life is crazy.

thanks for having fries in my honor :) and all the photos! man the 26 of july was way awesome :)  ill be honest i woke up that morning pretty home sick.. but as we just got to work i started to feel better.. :) plus everyone was so awesome! the sisters made me a custom corn flake cookie cake.. elder hansen hooked me up with some english ties and stlye glasses :) remember the ones that jordons boy wore dad? they are like those sorta :) nicole sent with me a wrapped thing which had a legit tie in it :) cards and stuff!  it was such a good day! thanks everyone! i loved everything!! that was all pretty early in the morning..

             i have a super cool story for this week though.. so last sunday.. this man named sean.. (shaun) he is 42 years old, came to church all by himself, he said he woke up that morning and felt like he needed to go. when we started to chat with him we set up an apt for tuesday.. when we saw him on tuesday... he told us that he wanted to be baptised and that he had had the lessons before and just wanted to be refreshed! but that he knew the church was true and he wanted to be a member! how crazy is that! so we went over everyday this week pretty much and he is getting baptised on saturday if everything goes as planned!!! whooooo! how cool is that! :) the church is amazing! this was such a cool experience 

ah man.. well i say this everyweek but i love missionary work.. i learn so much everyday and i love it!   my favorite spiritual thought was from chapter 32 in alma.... it likens faith unto a seed.. in order for it to grow you have to water it and give it good soil and things like that.. so what are some things that you do to water your seed of faith?

stay positive and help others!!!

smile!

love Elder Wiser

sunset to combat shays :) england vs america.. sunset style because america wins in everything else

this one is of me and my comp

me being a goof :)

this one is of my birthday cake!!!!! and then one more of the tie Nicole gave me and the style glasses my comp gave me:)

the awesome sisters that made me this cake :)

this is me trying to be cool like the guy on my tie

this is at tgi fridays :) elder  kerrs b day is today.. so we celebrated on saturday!!

July 22, 2013

This is Mama Chester's and a dinner appointment after service

Missionary surprise GF Style - Sterling said his companion loved it! 

Holy crazy week!! Sounds like you guys had a blast :) A lot happend thats for sure :) go family!! haha mom I wear my helmet :) and the riding is pretty fun:) its pretty bumpy but thats ok :) my front tire tried falling apart so i pretty much re packed  the bearings with a tooth pick ha we have no tools here!! so my ghetto rigging skills are coming out of the wood works :)

Well lets see... stories this week :) we have seen many miracles when we are finding :) proof again that this is Gods work :) I see that every day :) I think the one that stands out to me the most is about Allen.. on the trian home from Birmingham after the follow up training meeting.. we boarded the train.. were looking for spots that were together so we could talk to all the missionarys when we found that there were none... so i found my seat with this chill looking english guy.. at first my mind was like ok, he is listening to music and looking out the window.. i didnt want to disturb him so i was sitting there contemplating ways to strike up a conversation without seeming to weird when the ticket collecter started walking down the isle... when he stopped and looked at my ticket he asked to see the one from the person next to me.. they had a little arguement because allen had his ticket taken by the lady before.. so this was my shot.. the ticket inspecter said he was going to check things out.. i started a normal conversation and as we got talking he asked what i was doing in england.. because im obvioustly american ha.. so we talked about why im here... and about his belifes.. he had tons of questions and i ended up teaching the restoration and telling him how it applys in my life and how it helps in everyones life :)..... i gave him the first book of mormon i have ever placed by myself :D may sound funny but it was a fourty min train ride and we talked the whole time :) i got his number and he asked me to refer him to the other missionarys in the place he was at :) he was such a good dude!! this experience helped me realize how very important study is and being able to have the spirit in your life is. not having my trainer there to back me up made me rely on the spirit to help me ask inspired questions and answer his questions.. it also helped me how the restored gospel can apply in everyones life and how much of a blessing it is!! :) go missionary work!!!!! :)

well i can honestly say no matter what happens each day that if we have our minds in the right state... being happy and worthy of the spirit... each day will be a testimony builder and help us realize that god does love us :) if i ever get discouraged or down.. i know tht if i keep praying for that extra help or that act of service i can do.... how it shows how god loves everyone and that he loves me :) and you and you and you ha

ah man well i love england. i know god sent me here for a reason and i love going day to day as a missionary :)

i love you guys

love,

 Elder Wiser

We received this email from Sterling's mission president - they went to church in Sterling's ward.

Parents,

We attended Sacrament Meeting today in Cheltenham. We were able
to spend a few moments with your sons and daughters. They are all
wonderful missionaries working hard to teach others of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for you sacrifice and know your prayers and support are
greatly appreciated.

Warmly,

President and Sister Rasmussen

July 15, 2013

Hello family!! it was great to hear from you all today and I love you guys a ton! Well, its been an eventful week I have learned a bunch more and ill continue to do so.. well where to begin.. I had some super cool experiences this week. I have gotten a lot better at teaching, I found the trick is to just be a human.. ha! I was always trying to hit the points in order but that just makes me sound like a robot.. so i have really been working on being a human ha does that sound weird? Yeah, a little but its true.. well, English weather.... all I have to say is that as of right now my expectations are destroyed! I thought it was supposed to rain everyday all day and I came into blazing heat! I’m not complaining because I love it but its so different! I think I’ll get my fair share of rain while I’m here though ha no worries :) I wanna talk about my companion for a little bit... starting out with he is a complete stud.. I know that God put us together for a reason. He has taught me so much!  We are such good mates (friends) he is the perfect example of how to live in harmony with the spirit and that’s so important for the work.. and how to enjoy the work as your doing it.. great example!

 Mom he comes home in 5 months and he lives in Cedar City.. so when he comes to visit Amos he is going to give you a hug :) everyone in the family ha even Tuffy!! You will see how awesome he is then!

Well my stories this week have just been a confirmation that the spirit works all the time.. all you have to do is be worthy and receptive and you will notice it.. so my comp and I were biking home from the chapel, just chatting, when he stopped talking and rode over to this lady walking on the side walk...( when I first got to the mission I used to think.. what the heck is going on, but now I realize that its just him doing what needs to be done) so I follow suit and we started talking to this lady. Her name was Pauleen. We started out just talking about her feelings on church and God, she said she wasn’t interested but that she liked talking to us.. right in the middle of our conversation a butterfly crash landed on the cement. It was a nice looking butterfly and she took care of it for a while until she returned it to the tree.. all this time we were talking about her life and how being a good person has helped her.. She was extremely charitable. One of the best examples I have ever seen. After her parents died of cancer she just started visiting and taking care of people in hospitals.. the spirit was super strong in our conversation.. my companion bore our testimonies on the book of Mormon, its truthfulness and the power and happiness it can bring into our daily lives.. as we were about to split ways she decided to call us the butterfly boys ha sounds funny but I loved it :) I remember walking away from that chat feeling like we had legitly helped her life by introducing her to the b.o.m.. and it was a gift from Heavenly Father... I don't feel like I told this story very well at all but the moral of it is stay worthy of the spirit in all you do so you can be an instrument in Gods hands and be able to witness the blessings that come from it..    I wanna finish saying I love this gospel and even though I have so much to learn I love every minute of it :)  I just love it!! Ha! I love being a missionary! whooooo

Mark is the ward missionary.. ill take a picture with him and his mom :) we call him marky mark and mama chesters, ha i love them.. we go do service all the time for them :) but mark is a literal champ... he comes out with us so much... he is way to nice. He djs during the week at a club :) so, he is sick! and so spiritual.. its crazy. you would think that someone who works at a club.. but is so spiritual his whole life is based around the church..  he is a stud!!!
i have been really enjoying the bible :) Three hours of study is nuts ha... we have an extra hour because of training..
ha mama chesters has a joke she likes to laugh about.. she is from Africa so she says her words like elda wisa... so this is something thats not really funny but the fact that she laughs so hard is funny, ha! ok here it is.... elda wisa.. and elda dumba (meaning elder hansen) haha she laughs so hard everytime she says that :) funny right ha ah man... i love it!!!
ah man.. well im going to get out a here.. love ya mom!    thanks for all ya do!
elda wisa and elda dumba..... ahahah

love you guys a ton.

 stay safe, keep livin’ the dream!

love elder wiser :)

July 8, 2013

holy goodness :) ... shay seems to have crazy experiences every few days! ha oh to serve in mexico :)

the mail here is nuts!!! It kills me that letters take so long.. ah man.... we shall see

missionary work is way too awesome :) I love this stuff! did you guys watch the devotinal on ward missionary work? what do you think?

Teaching with the spirit is hard... but when you feel it.. there is nothing like it :)

The baptism was really good.. it was for Moreen and our zone leader elder kerr baptized her.. the spirit was super strong and we had an investigator there named ian... he is atheist... we have been teaching him forever and have been though all the lessons. he just cant feel the spirit.. i have felt it around him a bunch but i think he just either dosent know what it is or is blocking it.. but he loves talking to us about the church so thats alright i guess.. but the spirit was super strong and i loved it:) i just cant wait till its me in the water and i helped whoever is in there with me there.. just gotta keep workin :)

I had a dinner appt the other day and the kids litterally took turns screaming so we couldnt hear..... and they didnt do anything..........:( i wanted to punch something.. if dad was their dad they would have lost years of life becuase it was for like in hour straight.... ah man crazy... 

 I would say the things that happen the most here would be seeing the hand of God in our work.. everything happens for a reason.. we get a prompting to do something like knock a door, and when we do they just reject us.. its a bummer... but then we meet someone on the street and they want to learn the gospel! its super cool. so if your intune with the spirit.. if your living in the moment and doing your best.. things will happen how they need to happen.. if you talk to someone and they drop you.. it could just be that you were planting that seed... the seed of faith :) so pretty much be obedient, work hard, have the spirit as your constant companion, and things work out :)

my comp is way to awesome! we are good boys for sure... what i mean by spirit of the law is like he is a human.. thats what makes him so good at missionary work though.. thats how all the missionarys here are.. they are completely obedient but they are human... does that make sense?

well i love missionary work and i love the gospel :)

i keep studying and praying so i can be better and strengthen my testimony :)

love you guys!

love elder wiser

 ah man i forgot to tell you!!! I was in a pageant this week so there is a picture for that.
my comp was an angel and I was Sam, haha! my comp just wore a dress ahahahaha I laughed so hard haha ah man.. it was good fun for sure... well i love you guys!!! keep me updated :)

This is half the sisters and elders in their zone.

me and Sister Anderson.. what do you think of my hair??  the guy who cut it didnt speak much english so I just said to do some thing cool pretty much.. with my best persian language I could, haha super funny... love you!! 

Hello from Cheltenham

MTC Roomies

Preston MTC Grounds

Steve - the MTC cook

MTC District

MTC President & Sister Durkin

Family:

uhhh i get super nervous on the doors, so i think that i just need practice.. and doors get slammed here.. so tracking is a difficult. stopping ppl on the street we can do :) 

 ppl mistake us for jahovas witnesses sometimes and just ppl of religion so they slam the door quite a bit :) some ppl are nice though..there are nice ppl everywhere! all i can say is that i love it here....and elder kerr said that family can pray for them but you cant join in any special fasts or anything.. i just wanted to make sure i wasnt breaking any rules ha.... my comp is really cool.. super relaxed.. there is a by the book elders and a spirit of the law elders, and elder hansen is a spirit of the law elder.. super sick though he is such a champ.  but im striving to get better every day.. the church is true ha and i left a note for skyler clark :) he will get it when he gets there.. hey will you text colt and see how he is doing? i wont be on here by the time that he texts back but i wanted to know if he got my post.. and if he is doing ok :) are you happy?  how is the ward?

Today on our p-day we played baskeball or hoop... markymark taught me the ways of a boxer.. so we trained for a good hour and a half in grappling and boxing :) super sick.. and i can email all day... so if im at the chapel and around a computer, like today, i can email all day.. idk if thats against the rules but im next to the zone leader right now and he has been going as long as i have ha so i think im clear...

Just pray for england honestly.. i told stant about it a little.. our investigators are really good and they know the gospel is true but they wont take that next step.. so its a work in progress.. as of now our investigators are nat chloie josh hubert ian.... uhh hmm thats all i can remember oh there is tarquin.. he is a uniqe fellow.. idk for some reason i feel weird like just barley... hmmm well just pray for england :) so their hearts can be softened

 oh the investigator we had our first lesson with just texted and said he prayed and felt good!!!!! ahhhhh whooo thats so good :) go holy ghost. and ya i have been well protected out here.. cars try and hit me all the time because the roads are so small. ha! its the most intense thing ever.. remember dominica? thats sorta what its like here.. sketch business

yay mom :) keep the faith ha i had to work on that one to.. i worried about you guys like crazy... right after i left everyone got hurt!! it scared me so i pray that my mission blessings go towards safety ha if im allowed to do that :) dang.... well how is the a team? everyone holding up ok? im glad to hear your alright ma :) big hug via internet!!!!

did you sell trixy? and is tuffy still alive? i snuggle any dogs i see haha which has only been one cute one :)

ah man i gotta go.. i love you mom :) hold strong!! our lesson just canceld so i get to go tract haha   yay :)

i love all the family :) tell em and give out hugs :) i mean litteral hugs not just telling them its a hug from me to them through you :) the chuch is true!!!! i love it :) ill have stories for you next week! loves loves

elder wiser