July 28th, 2014

hey guys!

i was thinking about what to send to you guys this week and when i was on exchange with the elder steel a zone leader :) 

he shared a scripture with me that i wanted to share with you.

2 nephi 20:15

it helped me realize why im out here better :) he told me it was one of his favorite scriptures and we talked about it for a while.

everything we do is to glorify god. we make him proud when we do what he asks. no matter what anyone says if we do what is right we will know he loves us :)

i know this is short but thats a scripture i thought was sweet!

we got flogged so much this week.. but we have a new investo!! his name is gerint (i think is how you spell it).. nice guy and willing to learn so we will see how it goes :) we have been getting to know the members super well though. we litterally have dinner every single night. its awesome!! and there is some members here that know what gluten is! on saturday a family named the jones had us over at seven in the morning and we had breakfast! it was sweet! thanks so much for all the letters ma :) tell the famlily as well.. i saved those and some sweeties for saturday :) it was great! and now I'm twenty haha

sorry! this week was a bit uneventful.. but there is going to be miricles this week!! oh man i have spoken in church a bunch and prepared the 45 min lessons over the last few months.. I love preparing lessons!! its super fun. I have found out all about confidence... like I get asked to lead music sometimes and I have no idea how to do it but you just act like you know whats going on and it seems to go alright haha church is so good! I love the gospel :)

make sure to have the best week guys :)

love you!

elder wiser

P.S. So this dude named ryan said one of his friends was in palmyra and talked to dad and said to say hi from dad haha he remembered it for three weeks! thats pretty cool huh? the kid is a stud. its a small world!

bridge to hogwarts!!

elder peek and i got covered in mud!! whooo

I finally retired them!! I was so sad! I loved those shoes... but I have the boots and the settles - still they will last me to the end :)   The second pair I have only wore like ten or so times so they are brand new :) still have the store shine :) those Ecco shoes are my favorite though.... they lasted for so long I'm going to get the same pair when I get back home because I love them so much... it was honestly hard to get rid of them.

July 21, 2014

things are going so good.. we have been working hard but not a lot has been happening... so its been one of a self reflecting week.. ha but those are good!! things have been good though :) sounds like stuff is going to be pretty good

 

 I love the devotional talks!! :) I listen to them all the time I have been liking them a lot.. thanks so much for that.its been great!! they are prefect for lunch and stuff.

 

man everyone was scattered a lot this week.. im glad everyone is safe though, thats what I worry about the most.. glad your teeth are ok as well haha it didnt look bad. tooth stuff is the worst.. it sucks being out here and having no idea what to do with that.. I have got to get an apt  soon because they are gettin pretty bad.... so I will keep you posted on that I might just have to call you someday and tell you about it... but I have a bunch a stuff I have to do tyo clear that so ill get her all sorted out :)

tell Shelby & Stant I love them!!! I'm glad Stanton is recovering though... I'm going to have to start working out again... after that car hit me my body wasnt 100 percent so I got fat again haha... I hate it!! so this week im going to try and build what I lost

 

shay only has 6 weeks left.. ah man that is nuts.. time really is going super fast.. its going to be way weird when she gets back and in rollin solo in the feild... ah man!! thats nuts ha shayna really is the perfect missionary.. she is an incredible person :) I have to be better at writing her.

 

is there anything i can do for ya ma? I'm going to have to get back into a routine I havent even unpacked yet because we dont have anywhere to put stuff haha.. I left my camera home  today as well!!! we had a super cool activity this week with the high preists... we went mountain biking!! I cant wait to send you pictures.. its the best biking place in wales its said...

 

ha my birthday hasnt even registered yet!!! when I turn twenty.... it seems like something will hapen to me like ill just feel old or something haha is there anything I should worry about? my facial hair has really improved.. I have to shave every day or I have a mini beard.. its going to be fun to see how it looks when I get home :) 

 

thanks mom :) I love knowing you guys love and support me it makes everything better!!

I love you so much :) thank you for everything!

love elder wiser

I love you!

mama bear!!!! hey there :)

Here is my new address:

Elder Sterling Wiser
21 wichfwr

heolgerrig

merthyr tydfil

CF48 1RD

ma i got the package!! :) thanks so much  :) the candy is so good!! man i miss american stuff so bad... i know its not quite my birthday but i had to steal a few!! haha those mormon messages are going to serve me well... me and whenever I use them. whether in district meeting or at a dinner apt... I'm gonig to use them loads!! thanks so much mom :) good thing there were contacts in this one though :) the others ones were so beat hah one had a chunk out of it but we kept playing sport so i couldnt rock the shades. I'm saving the letters for the 26th.. and some desert :)

love you!!!

Sorry i have been terrible at writing letters lately.... our flat is huge and takes up keep so I have been working on that in spare time.. saying its huge its smaller than the shed in our back yard haha but its way huge considering where I have lived before.

so on saturday a former investogator texted us and asked to come to church.. so of course we sorted out a lift and everything for her... she is from nigeria and has a penticosle background she was sitting across the chapel from us. 

so I got to introduce myself this week.. and it was fast sunday so I went up first :) as I closed I started to walk back down the stairs to someone clapping..... so I knew who it was haha anyway for the rest of the meeting she clapped for everyone that stood up :) the crown jewel though was when she stood up and bore her testimony... the first thing she said is when I say praise the lord. you say hallaluja. praise the lord! then like six members said hallaluja... oh I cant hear your brothers and sisters praise the lord! more this time.. hallaluja.... she actually has a legit testimony  :) she sang a song about Christ and closed.... man I was so embarrassed.... I felt bad that it had sorta disrupted the meeting... but it was what she was used to. she kept asking where our drums were and why she was the only one clappping after the meeting... :) she asked loads of questions for the rest of the day .. she said that her pasters had told her that the mormons were a seceret cult but from what she saw we were devout Christians... she was actually really interested and will probably come next week :) she is such a great lady..

other than that work wise we had someone media refer himself.. he is so solid!! he has been calling us and asking about the book of mormon reading he has been doing and is going to church in a different ward all by himself.. he visits his mom on sundays so he goes to church there.. he is so solid!! our area is starting to lift :) we just have to keep choosing the right and working hard..

life is good!!

so a scripture I love!!! its alma 37: 40&41

if we have faith and are good boys and girls we will be guided by the spirit.

love you guys loads!!

have the best week

love elder wiser

sorry i didnt give you loads to work with ma.... merthyr is great but things are going really slow with the work.. we have been workingwith them members a lot and they are great!! i love them but things will start to pick up soon....

love you!

July 7th, 2014

flip that is cool your teaching water aerobics again!! I remember you and Shayna loved that..flip ha your going to be able to beat me up when I get home as well haha... ah man I'm getting chubby... I can run for ages here cuz the air is thick but when I get home im going to die.... do you think you guys will come back with me and visit? man with Diane that is so cool.... the church is true :) ha thats totally a story for planting seeds she even got the blessing of seeing the fruits in his life.. man I love that!

The fourth was pretty good :) we just met up with the district and ate some lunch.. man I love America!! haha soo I'm serving with Elder Peek :) he is from a small town outside of St George utah and was trained by Elder Mcfarland :) 

man I love it here!! I have only been here for a few days and I feel at home.. Elder Peek is awesome and we get along great he is so funny. ah man its the best... I have loads of pictures and a cool story for the week so I'm not going to be able to type loads because I have some other stuff to do as well... but this area is beautiful... Elder Peek and I are already great friends.. we actually havent taught together yet though... we only have one investogator at the moment and I met him on the train when I was coming in.. he is really cool though. I hope to get to know him better soon.. so picture time!!!

oh wait...you pronounce the name of the city like merther tidville :) it looks nuts on that sheet but its not to hard ha we just call it merther.. im in the beacon hights ward.

but ya, I totally love it here :) and we are going to get some sweet work done!! so my story.... its sorta a small one but its cool.. so yesterday we were at a dinner appointment and we were out back and I was playing pass with this little kid.. so one time I threw his ball too hard, which is about the size of 25 cents, and it launched over the fence......... haha I felt terrible!! so I hopped over and started to look.. I looked for about ten min and I though... you know what, what the heck.. i'll say a prayer.. I just prayed that I would find it..... I'm sure heavenly father had a chuckle because I was just thinking like man this means nothing but I lost it for that little kid.... and I kid you not.. right after I prayed I found it haha how cool is that!! I said a prayer of gratitude and it was just so cool... I told the little kid about it as well. he wasnt very interested but maybe someday he will remember whenever he needs to talk to Heavenly Father...

but ya thats my story!! it made the journal and im sharing it with you guys haha say your prayers!! :)

love you all!

elder wiser

thanks for that package.. I should be getting it this week :) i'll open it with one eye haha just grab my contacts and leave everything else.. I'm glad you guys are safe with this weeks adventures..... what did you think of my chav cut? 

 i love you!!

talk to you next week :)

so this is peachy keens!! we had an awesome member in Newport that has been taking the missionarys out for food for a very long time.. once or more a week ha his name is Jeff and he is awesome :) we got to know each other pretty well.. I miss newport. I love that place.

a burned car! it was recently burned so we took a bunch of pictures of it.... i wish you guys could just see through my eyes ha this country is so beautiful.. 

soooo this is the demon forest.... there is a trail beside it be its fun to walk thorough it haha... looking from the outside in it looks so dark and creepy.. but its not bad when you go in :) that could be the means of a talk haha so right here we found some metal sticks and ran around hitting trees and stuff... it was actually really fun ha..

so this is our area! this is the place called aberdare... we live on the ohter side of what people here call a mountain haha.. so this is after the 20 min hike we have to make if we are going to walk there.

its beautiful huh? i love it. i feel like im camping whenever we go over the hill haha we have made a few traditions already as well. we sit where this picture was taken and have a drink and just talk before we go home for dinner.

that is what i thought wales would look like... this is what it normally looks like haha and the first time we walked over the hill :)

so its not raining.. its like misting ha we were standing in the middle of a cloud... completely soaked just by walking..so your looking at the exact same view as above... just in a cloud. haha

June 30, 2014

Hey family :)

 man what a crazy week it has been..

so I learned last night that Im getting moved to the outer darkness of the mission!! haha Im kidding Im going to a place called Merthyr Tydfil ithink is how you spell it... I have litterally served on both sides of this mission now ha.. man that is going to be great.. I think Im going to serve with Elder Mcfarlands boy as well.. his name is Elder Peak but I dont know for sure yet.. crazy!! Elder Downey was telling me about it and it sounds like a good place :)

 

so story of the week!!!

First thing.. we had a ward open day :) we hada bouncy castle and a bbq and chapel tours.. it went so good!! and we had a bunch of people come and see.. it was so good for people to come to something and be interested.. we had a lady the ward invited that hasn't been to church in 20 years that came... she said right after they invited her to the open day she dug in her boxes till she found her scriptures and started to read an pray just like she had been taught 20 years ago.. ah man I wanted to hug her!!! we have an appointment with her on Thursday.. man miricle huh? God is so good.

 

So we were passing out flyers in town.. which was crazy I love town becasue you would never get bored talking to people in there.. so many different people.. something so cool happend though. so this little lady was driving by on a schooter.. so I offered her a leaflet and talked with her about family history and stuff.. she said thanks and as she was going I threw out a dumb joke telling her to drive safe with all the crazy drivers in Newport.. it wasnt very funny but she smiled :) but after about ten min I was talking to someone else and this woman drove up and said "here take these, it's really hot out today and you are working really hard" she had gone and bought two liters of water for me and Elder Maligon... I felt so grateful.. I was honestly sorta speachelss... I just expressed my thanks and she drove away... but man that had such an impact on me. I didn't know that woman but she went out of her way to get some water for us. that was such a blessing.

 

random act of kindness :) I hope she is so blessed for doing that.... but here is a little poem from this cool little book

 

Giving is Living

"Go spread, to the Needy, sweet Charitys bread, for giving is living, the angel said;

O must I be giving again and again?

My peevish and willful answer ran,

oh no, said the angel, and her eyes pierced me through- 

just give till the master stops giving to you"

 

I really liked that. This lady may have thought what she had done would mean nothing.. but I'm sharing it with you and it inspired me to be better and help people in need more.

 

"as you have done it unto the least of these my brethern, ye have done it unto me"

                                                   -Jesus

Matthew 25:14

 

nobody will ever feel bad about doing something nice :) give a random act of service to someone!

 

This is Elder Maligon! below

 

I'm grateful to see lately the true joy of simple acts of kindness. Making somebody happy at the beginning of their day by making them smile, laugh, or even serving them in a way that I will not seek for recognition from those opportunities. That is when true Christianity is being put into test, "Am I going show kindness even if my efforts will not be recognized?". It is true that it is saddening to see that the world's standards are drifting away from the Lord's standards, but we can still make a difference. Our simple act of kindness could be something that we will forget after the day, but it also could be something that the recipient will always remember. President Monson's talk about love led me to learn about this poem that says,

I have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That somebody's need made me blind;
But I never have yet
Felt a tinge of regret
For being a little too kind

Everyday, it has always been good to feel that at the end the day I made somebody feel loved, befriended, or comforted. It might not be in a complicated way, but those simple things are the things that matter most.
-Elder Maligon.

 

thank you guys for all you do :) I love you so much!! have the best week

from Elder Wiser and Elder Maligon

#comp unity 

I gave a pass along card and some skittles to an elephant - haha 

This is during call-ins, it was fun..

So this is a suit a bought today for 8 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Super sale. I waited for four months for this..