Bonus Pictures

I received these pictures yesterday from a member in the area where Sterling is serving.  It was a nice little surprise.  

 Sterling and his companion, Elder Higham, from Idaho Falls Idaho

Elder Higham and his birthday cake

Hey family!!! :) so good to hear from you all this week :) I love the emails and the pictrues :) sorry about last week... we had a really busy day and I didn't have loads of time to email... but i plan to make up for it now!

 

so this week.... normally I would try to start out with some smaller stories but this one has been on my mind hard core.... I had a mission changing experience! so I'm going to be fully honest here... Lincoln is amazing and I love it :) There are so many people who are prepared to hear the gospel and we have been so blessed :) we have been teaching loads of university students and it has been so much fun! the gospel can help everyone and I love being able to tell people about Gods plan for us :).. So this story happened last week..like I mentioned, we have been teaching loads of new investogators.. with new investogators you teach the restoration, but in a way that it applies to them :) and I found that I was really struggling just teaching the basic lessons about the restoration... like I had no direction.. my comp would look at me to say something and my mind would be completely blank.... it was the weirdest because I usually can think of something to say.. but for a lot of these lessons.. I just couldn't.. and it was killin me. I was praying so hard and studied things that I though would help..... including the lessons I have heard for my whole life and I thought I knew so well... so I was still struggling with this when we went to a dinner appt at the Henleys.. dinner was amazing and I love that family :) so time rolled around for the spiritual thought. which we dicided i would give.. I shared the story about 2 nephi 4:34 and what it meant to me and what I had learned from it... it started a conversation about how the gospel can bless us and we ended up talkiing about first impressions and stuff and what we all thought of each other.. one of the family members shared some wonderful stories and gave me and my comp some wonderful compliments :) she noticed though that I was holding something back, so she asked me what was going on. I told her that I was struggling with teaching and this is what i said.. "I have grown up in the church, I have studeid the lessons my whole life. I played nephites and lamanites when I was a kid but for some reason I can't teach it properly." They all thought for a second and then brother Henely just said.. "there is a whole lot of 'I' in what you said and not a lot of the spirit.. so when your studing and teaching are you leaving room for the spirit?"....... haha I almsot wanted to laugh because of how simple that sounded! this last little while I was depending completely on myself to teach and not the spirit. I had gotten to a point where I was feelin big because I had been out for five months and I forgot the only thing that can help us teach and touch the hearts of our investigators... the spirit! haha, so even though I have heard, "teach with the spirit" my whole life I was forgetting the only thing we need. This was such a cool experience! so now every time I go to teach or finding or something I always ask myself... are you going to leave room for the spirit? ha and our lessons have gone so much smoother..... I know that without the spirit, the reason we're missionaries sorta goes away. The spirit is what testifies of the truth of our message :)   

We taught a lesson after that and we really focused on having the spirit, it was so special. The crazy part is, I could teach with that every time! i just have to figure out how...... i dont know what i have to change to do it but i wanna find it! ha, i have  a few ideas....... but remeber how we were talking about wrestling and how much it sucks? well thats the only thing I can compare to what I'm doing right now...... everyone has always told me I can do so many great things and that I have the ability to be a leader... and even though I still find that hard to believe.. I trust that if God wants me to be something he will help me get to the point he needs me to be. How I compare that to wrestling is that I wasted so much time not doing my best..... the first few years I was ok at being ok...I told myself I was doing my best but I never really was. I was doing my ok best... it took me like five years to finally step up and try and do what I could have done all along. I just didn't believe I could... so comparing that to my mission is right now I'm still young... the mission may be hard and england may be a rough place but it doesn't make it ok for me to be ok with being ok.. just because i'll be accepted by everyone with not going all out... doesn't mean thats how I should be.. gosh I have tears in my eyes right now I beleive so much that if we just have faith that we can do anything I just hate how I let myself slump down where satan wants me so I can't do the  work how God wants me to.......

 

ah man well I hope you guys can understand this all i feel like I just rambled ha but I love being a missionary.. I love preaching the gospel..... I love Jesus ha :)

 

life is to short to waste time not doing your best! im sure I heard  that from dad or someone sometime in my life ha but its so true!

 

so the goals i have set is to find out how to be the best I can be and how to stay there.. I think a good example is shayna ha and you guys.. mom and dad :) I love you guys so much! thank you so much for the things you have taught me :) i would be such a slob if I didnt have you as examples.. i have been so blessed ha thank you thank you thank you :)

I really love you all :)

 

So my invitation to all is to remember the spirit! whether if it's teaching a lesson to a class to a friend or an investigator remember to leave room for the spirit :)

 

love you all

love elder wiser :)

 

November 11, 2013

hello family! :)

 

so this week in lincoln was the most crazy week of missionary work of my whole life.... we have been so blessed.. we ran into loads of people that wanted to hear what we had to say and it was the best! i learned so many things... some from good things some from bad haha i say the dumbest things sometimes... but its all a learning experience :)

  

so stories this week.... ah man its hard to put my finger one just one....

well like i said we have been blessed so much.. there was a baptism in the district this week.. her name is Tian Tian.. she is a chinese student from the uni.. such an amazing person :) i love seening the blessings from the church of jesus christ enter peoples lives.. the craziest is when a month or so ago they didnt even know how to pray! so cool..

 

I  don't have loads of time but something to just give ya an idea of the stuff that happend we taught a ton of lessons this week! in cheltenham five or six was good! we found 8 new investigators and we have five on baptismal dates..... God is so good though..... life is good the church is true :)

 

i have just learned that being diligent is one of the biggest keys in missionary work... missionary WORK! also.. never let human fear stop you from doing something god wants you to..  live life without fear!

 

sorry this week is so short but i dont have loads of time.... im writing down stories to tell you guys and ill try to include some next time.. but i love you all! continue to have a fantastic week!

love elder wiser

 

P.S. ma i loved the pics this week! tell deana congrates for me :) the tuffy ones killed me haha i needed those.. even though the work is good and its the sickest.. its sorta stressful... positive stress though :) ahhhh yeah! oh im also learing some words in chinese because we teach so many chinese people haha its so much fun.... i wrote my name on a letter i sent home in chinese :)

i love you guys though!

this is my new district! we never see each other becuase we live far apart but they are all really nice :)

November 11, 201

 Last district photo in Cheltenham

so i litterally walk past this everyday..... pretty much

 this is the cathedral right by our house :) its so weird to think i see these pics like oh those are cool.. and i walk past it every day haha

Ahh ma... this is the coolest email :) Gosh im glad you guys are doing so well... the gospel blesses lives!!! man i love hearing stories like that... you guys are amazing :) way to be!! you are missionarys!

 

I do wanna say thank you to you and grandma and grandpa though.. I cant tell you how much I love getting those packages :) the dried fruit was fantasic and I'm almost out already..... I'm sad about that and the candy. Grams snow flakes are beautiful :) I was so sad I didn't get those before I left cheltenham. So I'm going to send some back to the people that I love.. thanks Gram :) they are amazing!! and just thanks for everything.. the letter you sent elder palmer ( i ate his candy.. haha) i called him and read it to him and he was on cloud nine haha he is going to write you I think.. he probably wont remember but he loved it. That was pretty much the first bit of post he has gotten on his mission.. he mostly just emails :) those pass along cards are nice as well.. weird how they dont have anyone with Christs birth on it...... THANK YOU!!

 

So the new area.. I absolutly love it!! the people here are so nice we have tons of people we are teaching (they are all university students)  I love it here so much!!!! I really do. The ward is amazing and small and great things are going to happen here :) my goals are set so high this tranfer... and I know I will reach them :) we do work!!    oh and Lincoln is only one area away from being the farthest north... so its freezing! and it rains loads as well.. so that sucks but it is what it is..

oh also Amos Mcgreger.. however ya spell it.. he served in Boston which is the farthest north :) I'm going there on Wednesday so I'm going to try and track down some of the people he baptised there or something :) i'll send back pics!!

 

We set a Chinese investigator on a date yesterday and it was one of those very strong moments.. idk if anyone else was feeling it but I was feeling it, haha! it was sweet.. and the spirit totally guided what I was saying.. I still sounded like me but I just felt like I knew where I was going even though I didn't know... it was really cool and it happens a bunch :)

 

the flat is tiny though.. its the same size as the place we studied back in cheltneham..... so its so tiny... and we have to hang dry everything and we dont have a dishwasher, haha! So I guess I get to be a normal missionary now!! Cheltenham was just really nice I guess :)

 

i really do love it here though.. everyone is aweosme :)

 

here ill have Elder Higham say...

 

Hey there!  So I am Elder Higham, from Idaho Falls, Idaho.  I enjoy golfing the most, right behing being a missionary though!!  Lincoln is honestly my favorite place I have ever been in the UK.  My family has four other kids besides me.  I am so happy to be serving with Elder Wiser!! He is always so happy.  I really love that about him.  Anyway, have a good week!!  _Elder Higham

 

so there ya go! from the main man himself :) i think he want to shelly high school or shell high school or something.

 

with your packages.. hmmm i would say just still send em to the mission home.. unless there is only letters or something in them.. becuase they just put em by the door like they do at home.. its just people steal them here.. and we're normally not here when the post comes so it would be sittin there for a bit.. I would say just the mission home.. just because I know I would get it there. no matter how long it takes.... the zone leaders go to the mission home on the first tuesday of every transfer.. and sometimes randomly.. so they would be able to bring them then.. only problem is is they are an hour and a half away from us still.. so packages are something I wont see for ages.. but ill get stuff around christmas so no worries! :)

 

 I do need a few things though.. I got some gloves today.. just some little ones that will work for winter.. and I had a list but I cant remember now...

 

so this is really choppy :) ill try to do one that is more organized.. 

ma i love you :) thanks for all you do!!

have a good week

elder wiser