October 27, 2014

Mama Bear!!!! Ah man its so good to hear all is well with you guys :)
ha I wanna see that picture for sure.. halloween... its so weird that
its here agian.. I had just barley gotten to lincoln last year. Our
ward is doing a trunk or treat that they do in America so we are
pretty stoked.. we had a lady we are teaching buy some masks for us
haha so we are going to get some torn up shirts and be zombie
missionarys or something :) its going to be fun.

Hey I love you guys!!! we had district p-day today so I dont have
loads of time but next week i'll have a bit more! love you :)

this is the district!!!!!!! yeah :) Elder roundy, the tall white one is
from monrow utah :) We are Utah trunky everytime
we are around each other... ah man America..

This little horse bit Elder Palu hahaha it was so funny... ah man he
was like wooo little horse! lets take a picture ha

Oct 19, 2014

Hey!! so just a mini update on the week!

Man, I love my mission.... I have learned loads.. I bet its nuts seeing missionarys come back and how much they have changed.. I feel the same but at the same time I know I have changed... you know what I mean? I feel the difference but I think I'll still fit in back at home.. one thing I have noticed is I do feel more independent. People may mistake me for a 15 year old haha but I feel like I can look after myself.. if I have a job and a calling and something to do I think I will be ok..I do know how much you guys do for me though... I honestly wouldn't be anything without you guys. thanks so much for your support.. its so good coming here on monday being able to feel love from you and the family. The things you do don't go unoticed :)

Man this week was pretty good :) it started out a bit rough haha I
caught a bug that was going around and lost loads of weight.. I lost
about 12 pounds.. for some reason I couldnt hold any food down.. but I
had a blessing and I feel 100 percent better! im sure I gained all the
weight back as well because as soon as I could eat. I put the pound
down :)

We had some cool teaching appointments as well.. we went on exhange
this week and Elder Palu and Elder Roundy found some really cool
potentials.. ones name is Robert.. he actually requested that the
missionarys come around. We haven't met him yet but we will soon I'm
sure.

Little up date on Zac the plan of salvation guy.. so we went by for
our return apt and he was really drunk and waved us away... so we are
going to try and catch him in this week. Other than that we have some
cool people we are teaching.

Something I have been thinking about loads is the spirit you can feel
in a members home.. as you guys know the church focuses a lot on the
family. Its crazy seeing how the gospel affects families. Thats one of
my favorite things, is going to visit a somone who has the spirit in
their home. its so good!!!! Moroni 7:16..

It has been a great week!
I love you all :)
elder wiser.

October 13, 2014

mom!! :) hey! holy flip I'm an old man now haha 16 months ha man! its crazy! ha my whole mission has been good :) I honestly have the easiest life.... I feel bad sometimes becasue im so flippin blessed. everyone has hard things to deal with and I have been spoiled my whole life. haha 

Man Stant is tiny!!! I weighed this morning and I weighed right under 12 stone... the scale is really old and it was on carpet but that means I'm right around 170 haha I'm flippin obese!! you can still see my abs and I'm still strong.. but man... ok.... I'm kidding myself I think I'm getting fat mom!!! ah man I thought I would have to fight it when I get married but I have to now!! dang it! my stomach sticks out farther then my pecks....... gosh dang it.. so we get fed every single day of the week... the ward here likes us quite a bit so they like feeding us so the list is always full.. its going to be so good for the missionaries in the future.. this is such a fantastic ward and I think they are getting excited about missionary work.. its a blessing for sure ha man I can't complain about that!! 

with gluten free I have really been doing good actually :) people in the ward know about it and I only get contaminated sometimes.... its wierd how my symptoms are so strange... I feel pretty good most of the time..... man Saturday night I woke up at about two and threw up my kidneys... whooo dang I don't know what its from but I felt fine in the morning for church. so I'm guessing my body just stores up its anger and then punches me with it all at one time. There is this angel woman in the other ward though who found out I'm gluten intolerant and called me... she has a daughter who has symptoms like you mom and she has been so good to me.. so here in Wales you can get perscriptions for gluten free stuff an perscriptions are free becasue of the taxes and stuff so she has been sharing stuff and buying things.. man I'm so blessed out here.. last week she made some meals and brought them over with some crackers and rolls.. I can really feel the difference. I'm going to their house for dinner on friday and she said she would make anything I wanted! so I'm going to have a cottage pie :) which in America is shepherds pie.. shepherds pie here has lamb in it when cottage is hamburger.. which they call hamburger here mince.. man translation! I could have made that easy but I thought you might have  thought it was interesting. but ya things are going great! I feel good and things are good :)

the rugby is going great :) haha the coach.. so cool thing, which is sorta obvious.. they wanted Elder Palu to play for the first team here.. becasue he is pro ha and guess what?!? they asked me to play for the......(drumroll)......undersixteens..... haha so here I am feeling all manly.. I have some chest hair now and I can make myself dinner.. and I look like a fifteen year old! haha! its cool they wanted me to play though! then I told him I only played like street American football and he called me a Nancy and didn't talk to me for the rest of the time. haha ah man we had a good laugh about it.. I told a member in the ward and he annouced it to everyone. ah man funny stuff

with cloths i think im good. wrestling Elder Palu I lost some shirts haha I actually haven't lost to him yet.. he had a time he flipped me into a pile of bikes, he takes as a win but I'm counting it as out of bounds for my pride. ha! I just wear the same stuff. I would get new stuff but I'm going to leave everything thats not nice here so ill probably wait till the end. thanks though! I am keeping my stuff nice its just after 16 months some stuff is going to get old.. those sports shoes are champs! I use those for service and p day... they work really hard ha they are just starting to wear. they should last me though :)

oh man a member just offered to take us to lunch.. ok I'm going to put a pause on this and ill come back.. we have some cool stories for the week. man so this guy named steve taylor just took us out for lunch.. what a flippin legend! he is honestly one of the best examples I have met in my mission.. I know that guy loves the lord and puts him first... he is so good to us missionary's. that is who we went caving with a couple weeks ago. legend!

My teeth are alright. I had to go back two times. and I think I'm going to have to again.. man its shocking how different the dentists are here... I had a cleaning done as well as the fillings. I still can't eat with half of my mouth so I gotta go sort it out...  he did a good job on the other side though...

Man its really sad to hear about the gay stuff in america..... it really shows which way the world is going..the church is true! President Monson is the prophet of God... I loved how conference talked about that so much. its sorta like conversion.. of you know the book of mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a prophet, which means the preisthood has been restored ect. if the prophet is a prophet of God that means he is looking out for our futures and telling us what God wants us to hear... its crazy how God has always been the same and the world is expecting him to change with things that are against his commandments.. they should read the scriptures. people have tried to do it quite a few times and it never worked out for them... and it never will. but at least we have our testimony and we can try and help them :)

so cool story for the week.. Elder Palu and I were out tracting in gellideg (gethlideg) we had been there for a few hours when this dude pulled up listening to really load music.. (which was a song I had never heard before but has been stuck in my head ever sense).. Elder Palu says its called RUT... (I'm gonna marry you anyway) you guys know that one? anyway so he pulled up and his family got in his car and left him at his house.. we went and knocked his door and he came to the door sorta like a person who you think would never accept the gospel.. covered in tattoos swearing and stuff.. we chatted on the door step for a while and he let us in.. we taught him the plan of salvation and focoused alot on baptism and how by being baptised we have a fresh start and extra guidence. he liked it a lot and when we invited him to be baptised he just said.. "ya I will do that.. that sounds great" haha cool huh? so we are shooting for Nov 9th.. when we set that date for him he looked at us a little emotionally and told us that was the day his dad passed away... so thats going to be a tough day but his dad is praying for him on the other side to make this choice. its crazy how we taught the plan of salvation in the first lesson with him.. we really felt the spirit to teach that.. it was cool :) so ill keep ya posted on that.

We had a picture perfect missionary day on Saturday haha ah man.. so Merthyr, if you guys look on a map there is a hill in between it and a place called Aberdare.. which is where we do street contacting. we planned to go over there for the day becasue its been a while so of course after study the clouds started to roll over... ha so the funny part is we were on a road like a highway.. cars going sixty.. in thick thick rain on our bikes haha we were completely soaked from head to toe.. and we were trying not to get ran over.. it was great. then at the top Elder Palu crashed on the side walk and people rolled down their windows and laughed at him.. it was pretty funny because it was a parking lot crash. when we got down there, soaked and Elder Palu had some scratches, the wind started blowing.. sooo cold! we street contacted in town for about three and a half hours or so.. we talked to hundreds of people and only got one return apointment.... then we cycled up to a different area and the less active we wanted to visit wasnt in.. so after that we decided to hike back home :) we took the mountain path that elder peek and I always took.. we took some time at the top and looked at the stars.. and got home at nine thirty! ta da! what a day huh? ha normally I wouldnt take time for all the flowery stuff but it paints a funny picture huh? 

things are going really good though. we found two new investogators this week and taught more lessons then this area has had in a week for months and months.. we taught six lessons and two less active lessons. we also had a youth come out with us for a day and a different youth give a book of mormon to a boy at school..... legends!

other than that though life is good :) I really love you guys and I hope you have the best week. the church is true and God loves you :) 1 John 4:7

oku ofa atu fae!

i love you mom :) I have learned that... I'm like half tongan haha

I love you!!

love elder wiser

i couldnt see this one but im going to send it to see what it was :)

i made elder palu dinner ha i called it fe haka kiki palu.. which means cooking meat palu.. its just a little blend of noodles and stuff im trying not to eat after dinner and this is after planning.. so he put the pound down!

the first one is merthyr durnig the dark and this one is aberdare :) the moon on the merthyr side is good.

i got my camera back from the members i left it with!!

this is in the middle of aberdare and merthyr :) soooo cold!!!

this is me right now!! im flippin fat haha 

October 6, 2014

Hey Mom :) man, I loved conference!! it was so dang good!! I took so many notes.. I gotta bring my notes... Dad sent me the "Lord, is it O" talk by uchtdorf.... that was one of my favorites by far.. so dang good!! ill bring them next time so I can share more with you.. one I used as a spiritual thought was president Monson's talk about the ship... how the rudder was shot and broken and that made it sink.. how the ship could stand up to many ships alone but without the rudder it was almost usless... then compare that to Alma 37:40... it talks about the liahona... I have loved talking about being a good example lately.. I feel like if our rudder is in check we can know from our example if its true.... man I have so many things I want to be better at... conference is the best!

haha hiking in the cave.. that was so much fun!! I only saw a few of the videos, so I dont really know what was said but I'm glad you liked it :) we had such a good time.. I felt like I was back at home though, haha! not in a trunky way its just stuff like that we never get a chance to do.. it was fantastic!!! they probably got annoyed with all the stories I had about camping with you guys and stuff.. America is the best! people say my accent is still super American so I think I don't have an English accent.. my speach pattern is a little different and I use british slang but I'm still American! I think im going to be like dad and just come home normal. although, I would like a little accent, anything to help my chances ;) haha

I think the kids taking our rugby clinic just like the rugby.. but some of them have left their other friends and started to chill with the members... man when I think about the effect the gospel would have on those kids it's insane... it seems night and day.. I hope we we can help them in some way.. if not they will have fond memories of the missionarys when others knock their door.

I love studying the Plan of Salvation though, the scriptures back up everything. It is so true... I have taught it to a few people that love it and study it and ask loads of questions but for some reason a lot of people just seems to accept it and wait for the next lesson...... but it is Gods plan for us... if you have the plan you know what you have to do... thats a big deal. but we are teaching it this week.. we will let you know how it goes :)

We do have more people to teach.. its been really nice. finding is fun as well.. I think of all the things I have learned on my mission to do, finding is one of my favorite.. tracting, street contacting... its all great.. people can feel the spirit in just like two min of conversation... even like thirty seconds.. if they can see you care about them and want to help them then it changes everything.. I think its really fun :)

I love you mom!!

love Elder Wiser

October 1, 2014

The reason Sterling did not email on Monday. . . . . Some members of their ward took them to The Big Pit Coal Museum.  He was so happy about it, it's like cave exploring - something Sterling LOVES.  The member sent the pictures and the video to me.  Thank you Laurence Howells for the wonderful pictures and videos.  It was wonderful to see Sterling doing something I know he loves and to hear his voice.  I MISS HIM!!!!!  

Sterling was able to email us a quick note on Thursday - I will include it below.

Love you all - Laura

I'm Laurence, I live in the Merthyr Tydfil area and have been out teaching with You'r son a few times, he is a great missionary! Last Monday we went out for a p-day we ended up going to the Big Pit, he loved it.

The footage isn't great but from the talking you see that we enjoyed ourselves. Any way hope you enjoy the footage and handful of photos. 
Laurence

Man, so you heard from a few members this week? ha! thats pretty cool. I'm grateful they sent that stuff to you. This ward is so good. I love it here. Bishop called president and asked if he would keep us here for a long time, haha so Elder Palu might stay here for like eight or nine moths haha.  I'm pretty happy about it :) this ward is great!

I could stay here for around six months.. which would be next transfer. but i don't think they will keep us together for more than three transfers.. it doesn't happen very much. But Elder Palu is the rugby player and the reason for all the excitement :) I love bragging about him!! As long as he is here the ward wants to use his talent. so I'm here to plan and try and make stuff work so that happens..  it has been really good. it's going to be hard to switch to a comp who is not famous ha being known all over is a good conversations starter, especially in wales. Everyone loves rugby here.. cool beans!

I dont know if we told you but we are helping coach a little rugby team. mostly for visibility.. so we are in sports clothes with our badges on :) its been fun.. everyone asks if I play rugby and I just tell them American football... haha what I don't explain is that it was like backyard two hand touch haha ah man at least I can tackle though... thank you double leg take down.

love you mom!! have a great week :) ill talk to you on monday!