January 27, 2014

So im going to have to be speedy, but this week was amazing..... so spiritual! ok so I have a few highlights

Matthew was baptised this sunday on Jan 26 of 2014.... he was so prepared to receive the gospel...

we had a few lessons with him this week that were amazing..

One of the lessons was on the atonement.. Sister priestly came up with a brilliant idea about doing a lesson on the atonement.. so we did the who, what, when, how, whys of the atonement.. it invited the spirit so strongly and then there was a cherry on top.. this story.. if you can look it up I would because it was awesome...

The Story is called "The Room" by Josh Harris. on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh-I56L0S4I

its a story about a man who is dreaming about being in a room with a bunch of files in it... he walks through it and realizes that everything in his life has been recored on these little index cards.. he goes through some that bring him great joy and some that bring him deep sadness... some things he had wished had never been recoreded.. but there they were in his own hand writing and with his name signed at the bottom. 

I pulled out file after file of things that had happend in my life. music I had listend to, girls I had liked, jokes I had told, I also came accross things like, mean things I had said to my family, things I had muttured under my breath to my parents, as I looked through file after file I came across one with the title lustful thoughts I have had, I pulled the file out  just three inches to pull out a card. while reading it I felt a horror and shame that I hadn't felt before! I had to destroy these cards! I had to find the key to this room, lock it and throw away the key! I yanked out the file drawer and began to hit it on the ground. only to find that the cards all stayed in place! I pulled out a card just to find they were as strong as steel and I couldn't tear them. My back hit the wall and with tears streeming down my face I let out a long sigh.. then someone enterd the room.... no oh no it can't be him.. it was Jesus Christ.. He came over to me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.. then he began to look at the files. No no I yelled! he was pulling out each card. and where my name was signed his name was signed over, signed with red ink.. his named was signed with his blood.... it seemed like a flash and he was back by my side.. words couldn't describe how I felt, a wieght was lifted off my shoulders and I felt at ease I looked up at Jesus and he gave me a smile.. he stood up and offered me a hand. I took it and he helped me up and took me to the door.. this room had no lock, there was still cards to be written.

Jesus suffered for our sins and we can be forgiven for them. all we have to do is ask :)

I love you guys and I know the church is true..

being a missionary is the best :)

love elder wiser

ma I gotta go!! ill have matt email you about his baptism :) he is an amazing man.. I truly love you all so much..

ill talk to you next week :)

January 20, 2014

Hey ma :) district p-day today!! i would send pics but I'm at the apple shop... i probably won't get to email till next week.. but we shall see.... we had some really cool things happen... matt passed his baptism interview and is getting baptised next week..... he is the best :) ill tell you more about it when i can... but i love you guys so much!! i gotta go!!!

love elder wiser

Sterling didn't have a lot of time today - he just sent these little messages in response to some of my email questions.

Transfer calls were today - So I asked if Sterling would be seeing any changes - this was his response:

I'm staying in Lincoln and president called Elder Higham to be a zone leader........ I don't have much time either because were going to a lesson. He is pretty nervous but he is more prepared and worthy than anyone else I know... he is going to be the best zone leader in the mission!!!

I told him about my new teaching job at South ogden jr. high:

ah thats so good!!!! what an amazing week :) sounds like you have your hands full with all of those students.. I'm glad you like it though :) nothing like enjoying your new job!! the guy Matt we are teaching is a teacher and he said all you have to do is be really strict, then ease up and people will respect you and then they love you :) so thats the best!! your the best ma.. all your students are going to love you :)

We sent him some pictures from Stanton's wrestling tournament in Idaho Falls - Tiger Grizz:

tiger grizz... I cant beleive that is all going on right now.. last year, I was there!!! ahh man! I wish I could watch him.. he looks like he is really going after it though... I love his stash haha, I love it :) i'll be getting on later but i dont have a lot of time left.. i really love you :) my family one will be for later :) love you!! (We didn't get a family email)

I asked him if he had time to go sightseeing on his P-Day:

oh and with sight seeing :) yeah i have seen the cathedreal... and the castle ha but we dont have a lot of time for that sorta stuff.... teach, find, teach, find, ha! when we come back here after my mission i'll give you guys the grand tour though and i'll be able to see most of the stuff :)  

January 13, 2014

mom I thought you would get a kick out of this haha this was on a tub of fake butter I bought

cathedral!

Hannah's baptism

Sooooooo holy cow.... I know I always say this but I have learned sooooooo much this week.... on an insane level... I'm going to tell you about my week first then a story and tie it in :) wish me luck!! haha

 

Hannah was baptised!!!! Yesterday was one of the most spiritual days ever... Hannah is so inspiring and I love her to bits. She asked some really special people to talk and it started the day off with such a strong spirit.. she asked Everest to speak on baptism and he gave one of the most beautiful talks.... I'm getting chills thinking about it but he put a lot of effort into it and he did such a good job... then she asked Katy to speak on the gift of the holy ghost :).. spiritual giants :) I love this place so much!!! The church is so true!! ha, we had a few investigators at the baptism and I dont know how everyone else was feeling, but the spirit was so strong you could cut through it... I looked around at everyone and I saw some of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. Hannah is such a choice spirit and her faith is insipiring.. after she was baptised and she was drying off we had a small testimony meeting... beautiful testimonys given.. we were talking to one of our investigators  after and he said he wanted to get up and express his feelings but he was scared he wouldn't be able to hold in his emotion. haha, who does that sound like? but the people visiting loved it :)

 

sooo hannah asked me to confirm her... I was really nervous because I wanted her baptism day to be such a special experience.. and I have given quite a few blessings but I have always had a hard time with feeling like I said what God wanted me to say.. so in preparation to this I fasted and prayed... and I asked God to help me :) when I placed my hands on her head I felt nothing but pure love... and I know I siad what God wanted her to hear.. the spirit was there so strong! she was crying, I was crying. haha! But she told me after that she had questions she needed answered and she told me that blessing did that for her... so again my testimony that God is real and he will help us with our rightious desires... fasting and prayer!!! I litterally feel like my mission has completely changed in this last week.. as I go on you will see

 

interveiws were this week... i was really nervous but I feel like we really bonded. I shared with him my honest feelings and he shared with me his.. it was great :) 

I have been reading a lot about obedience and what it means.. I had success in the past but I'm not living up to my potential!!!! I was still in the JR year of my mission!! ha (wrestling comparison). I read a bunch of scriptures about it and thought about the stories I already know.... obedience :) thats what separates everything pretty much.. so I have some goals that are going to be in place very soon..

 

But my story......

 

so an 18 year old boy had just gotten out of high school and was loooking for a job.. since he lived in a huge forest and all of his ancestors had done it, he wanted to become a lumber jack.. or a choppy tree down guy, ha! He knew it was a hard job and that he would have to get strong. So he could work really hard and be one of the best workers on the site.. he practiced chopping down trees in to practice and he found he was quite good at it... when one day someone asked him to come and work for them! He was so excited!! He had saved up his money and bought a brand new axe for this job.. he made a promise to his boss that he would be one of the hardest workers out there.... with that his boss told him to go out and get to work. the first day he came back and told his boss that he had cut down 18 trees! his boss was impressed because that was far better than a lot of other men that had been working on the site for a long time.. but he wanted to wait and see how long it would go on.. he sent him out again the next day.. and the boy came back and told him he had only cut down fifteen trees.. he worked just as hard but he didnt do as good as he did the first day. He just thought it was becasue he was sore and he knew he tried his best.. the next day he only cut down twelve.. and the next day only nine... each day was a decrease but he couldnt find out why... he woke up at the same time every day.. he swung his axe as hard as he could and worked just as long as he always had.. and the end of the day he came back to his boss and with a face full of guilt and told him he had only cut down nine trees.. his boss asked him why he had not cut down as many as when he first started.. he told him he didn't know and his boss asked for his axe... he felt the sharp end and noticed that it had big dents in it and it was so dull he would have been better off using a hammer...when the boy asked what was wrong he told him he found out why he had been working so hard but not as effective as he could be, he told the boy to go home and sharpen his axe.. so thats exactally what he did.. he went home and he sharpened his axe till it was as sharp as it was when he first purchased it.. the next day he woke up excited to try out the shapend edge of his axe... he woke up at the same exact time as normal and went out and went to work. as he returned and reported his work to his boss for the whole week he had gone all the way back up to 18 and sometimes even 20 or 22 trees! his boss asked him what had happened that helped him work so much harder.. the boy told him that every night when he would go home he would take some time out and sharpen his axe..

 

Now I only heard a condensed version of that so I tried to put some Elder Wiser creativity in there, haha! but in the story.. the boy/girl. represents us :) we have been sent down here to work and the axe is our testimony... there is a lot of ways you could make this story huge by doing the things your boss asks to sharpen your axe.. obedience :) many things like that! but when I heard this I thought it was amazing because as missionarys we wake up and do what were supposed to do and finish the day.... but if we take the extra time to sharpen our axe.. how much more effective we will be :)

 

I may have explained this bad but I feel like I grew from it :)

 

I love you guys so much and im really happy :)

make sure to have a  great day!!!

love elder wiser

 

Shince she is a seeker :) sounds sorta scary but what that means is well this is her story...she has been in lincoln for 3 years at the beginning of this year she prayed and asked God to help her strengthen her relationship with him.... the day we met her she said that she had prayed five minutes before we met that she really wanted to strengthen her relationship with God :) and she met us!! and we shared a message that can definitely help her with that haha! man I have so many blessings we have seen. 

 

with transfers... I love elder higham.... I hope we stay together for this next one. I'm praying we get to stay for another one because we have become such good freinds :).. ah man.. I feel so different... i'll keep you guys posted on my progress.. 

Here is a really great message our Mission President sent out:

In Preach My Gospel we are challenged “to rise to a new sense of commitment to assist our Father in Heaven in His glorious work.” Recently, a missionary asked how he could rise to a new sense of commitment.

If we are not mindful, the reasons that limit or reduce our commitment may go unnoticed. Making unwise choices, casual observance of sacred covenants and responsibilities, or spending too much time in giving first-class devotion to lesser causes are a few examples. When our commitment is less than it should be or has diminished for any reason, part of the solution is repentance. Commitment and repentance are closely intertwined.

For us to rise to a new sense of commitment, we must be willing to look closely at our conduct and actions. Only then will we truly know and feel we need to change. C. S. Lewis asserted that Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness; but until people know and feel they need to change, Christianity does not speak to them. He stated, “When you know you are sick, you will listen to the doctor.”

As missionaries, we are expected to keep the commandments, to obey mission rules, and to follow the counsel of our leaders willingly. As we do, we will know and feel what is needed “to rise to a new sense of commitment.” As we obey, we increase in faith, knowledge, wisdom, testimony, protection, and freedom. We rise to a new sense of commitment. Let our commitment be to complete obedience.

The First Presidency promises that “the Lord will reward and richly bless you as you humbly and prayerfully serve Him…and more happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among His children.” Surely the Lord loves, more than anything else, an unwavering commitment to obey His counsel. May His blessings continue to be with you as you honor your commitments! Thank you for your tremendous commitment and for all your righteous endeavors.

With much love and appreciation,

President Rasmussen.

January 6, 2014

Hello there :) good to hear from you all this week :)

 

soooooo we have been so blessed! things are going so well and I'm so happy :)

 

We have met a bunch of new people who want to hear our message and they are all so cool!! I'll show you a picture of a guy named stuart.... we talked with him on the street and he was the coolest guy! He is a body builder so I'm going to take tips from him :) I'm going to come home jacked!! ha me and my half hour of work out in the morning :)

 

Well this week I feel like the highlight this week has just been lincoln.. I feel so blessed to be here I loved Elder Higham.. being a missionary is so good :)

 

What stood out to me this week has just been how good god is and how important faith is.. Hannah passed her baptismal interveiw and is getting baptised next week!!! how cool is that! were so excited for her :) her testimony is amazing and she loves the gospel. !!! whoooooo!!!!!!!

 

I only have five min but all I wanna say is that the church is true :) something ma had hanging up in the kitchen was a board that says prayer changes things.. that is so true.. in Moroni 10 it talks about asking Heavenly Father in the name of Christ having a sincere heart and real intent... I have remembered times when I have prayed for something and I remember looking back telling myself I wanted it but I was really only half hearted or something.. like asking for someone to teach and wanting to feel that prompting but when I hit the playing field I was to scared or something.... in the MTC they showed us that scripture and I thought it was so good for people who were investigating the church... I sorta over looked that thats how everyone should be. haha! Ask and ye shall receive knock and it shall be opened to you! ask in faith!!

 

I love you all :)

happy new year!

Elder Wiser

December 30th, 2013

Hello family! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

Christmas Package From the Wiser's

Everest's first Christmas - getting an American football 

Sterling, Elder Higham, Adam, and Everest

Hey mom :) haha i loved all of it :) I have everything set up and I can it take with me! The jump rope was amazing because I was looking for some work out stuff but I didnt havve the dalla to drop.... you saw my tummy!! haha im flabby now, so I'm planning on getting some more muscle :) I have some goals I just have to sent my mind on it. The only things I opened early was the blanket and the sweats :0 which I love!!! I love it! ha it was funny how our heater broke... it happened a week before Christmas. and I just love that blanky! its so soft. I really loved everything though ma :) thanks so much.

 

Katy :) yeah I absolutly love katy :) She served a mission in London south......she is such an amazing girl. remember the email with the "did you leave room for the spirit?" that was with her and Brother and Sister Henely... you will really like her :) I have learned so much from her! (Katy texted me (Laura) and mentioned that Sterling's name is very unique) yeah! good old Sterling. haha, my name means either currency or a cigarettes here. Everyone says I should start my business over here though.. sterling wiser :) it just sounds like a finance business or something haha.

 

ahhhh ping pong :) thats the coolest! how are the elders there? fun, boring? haha. its funny spending so much time with missionarys before I came out.. I feel like I sorta know what not to be like :) ping pong is the sickest though!! glad to hear it went well.

 

yeah Christmas was different.. but it was a good experience :)  sooooo? I had an accent? did I sound stupid? I really tried hard not to get one haha I wasn't putting it on I promise... was it bad though?

 

Oh boy! So i just got to the question part of this email :0 so ill answer all of them here we go!!

 

it was amazing to speak to you and I absolutly loved it... so this accent we spoke about.... hahah uhhhhh hmmm I guess I will just have to listen to myself somehow because it seems that I sound completely American! funny stuff though.. im not putting it on I promise ha

 

so cool story really fast.. this story is about prayer!

 

So, it was two days after Christmas, and being Christmas means that nobody wants to meet with us and the work is going sorta slow... so in the morning before we left I prayed and asked if God would put someone in our path or guide us to someone who needed service :) physical service.. so we went finding all day long and right up the the end of the day we turned a corner and saw this lady hitting the street with a spade.. ha, it looked funny as first but she was putting asfault in these huge pot holes in front of her house.. they had been filling with water and splashing her newly painted door and window frames.. so we chatted for a little and asked if we could help.. she said yes!! so I worked the spade and Elder Higham jumped on all the tar stuff. ha! we had a good laugh and she took pictures of us and stuff.. it was amazing! so that right there my friends... is an answer to a prayer :) God answers our prayers all the time but I thought this story was really cool :)

 

so list of our investigators... i'll just put the ones on dates..

 

Hannah, Elder Higham and Elder Human had taught her for a month before I got here, so we have been teaching her for around three months.. they found her on the street and I cant remember what interested her in our message but all I know is that she is amazing... she is so nice! she knows the gospel so well and always answers the questions in our classes at church, ha! she is the coolest.. when she went to Ireland for christmas, she went to church both times! and the second time she took her mom :)  solid!

 

Gabrielle: she was a media referal :) she was talking to one of her friends who is a member and telling her that she was looking for a church to join and her friend directed her to our website.. she loved it and asked to have us around. we have only taught her two times but the times we have, have been really spiritual. She is a choice spirit. we still have a few lessons to teach but she is so prepared..

 

there is a few others but ill wait till next time. see how things go!

 

The ward in Lincoln is really good. Really really friendly and I felt at home the first time I got here. People are so good to us missionaries and welcoming to anyone who walks through the doors :)  There is only one ward in Lincoln but we're close to splitting :) just need some more missionary work!

 

We teach gospel principles every few weeks and Bishop had Elder Higham talk two weeks ago in sacrament meeting. So we do a little bit but the ward does most of it :) we love helping though.

 

There are around 160 people in the ward, I think... The members are amazing though :) we get fed loads and we feel the spirit everywhere we go. I love the ward!   We have loads of people who are willing to come out with us :) 

 

Transfer calls are in four weeks.. Elder Higham and I could potentialy stay together for a third transfer.. we work good together so that would be good :)

 

Mission pres is good :) same old! ha having three hundred missionaries would make it difficult to have a good relationship with him but I support him and I know he supports me :)

 

Did I answer all your question ok? I know I'm not to good at details but I have don't have loads of time... and thirty more emails to read. haha! ahh time.......... I love you guys!!!!!

Love Elder Wiser

December 23, 2013

ah man what a wonderful week!!!! you guys are having so much fun it seems like :) christmas is such a special time of year.... i miss you guys so bad!!! its the sorta miss that i miss you almost all the time but i can still think and be a normal human ha i have heard of missionarys that go home because they are so home sick..... im glad i can still function fully :) im so stoked to talk to you guys though!!!! just a few days now!! ya feel free to text adam any time :) i might just give you a call christmas day and try and sort things out.. it shouldnt be to spendy if its just i phon to i phone right? adam will be one hundred percent fine if you text him though.. he is the coolest...

what ill do i hope you get on soon so we can talk about it but if not ill just call adam and he will take care of everything :) ill be with adam all day so im one hundred percent flexable.. and the think with shay is cool as well... man this is going to be amazing! im so proud of stant as well... he is going to take state no questions asked.. either this year or next.. i think he can both..... gosh i gotta see some of these vids though.. whenever i get out of missionary mode and im laying in bed before sleep..... i get wrestling trunky haha im to fat to actually do it but i miss it stil ha stant is going to kill me when i get home

December 16, 2013

hey guys!!! sooooooo i know i have been really bad with blog emails lately but im going to try to be better... next week haha sorry :(

i did get those christmas packages!! i didnt open anything like i said i wouldnt :) ha thanks for everything ma :) father christmas came!! its actually been hard not opeing it.. i almost did yesterday ha but i fought it... thank you!!! i sent some stuff home.. i hope it gets there :) the sucky part is is i had to use my missionary funds on it becuase my personal card wasnt working.. so i may have to get some food with personal this week.... i hate being in the middle of nowhere!! travel is so spendy.. we have had loads of meetings and stuff.. oh the christmas conference! we traveled to birmingham and saw everyone in the mission :) it was amazing!! i missed so many people so bad and i hugged some of my best friends good bye pretty much forever.. it was hard.. its nuts how close people get out here.... gosh that was hard... it was good seeing everyone though :) ill send some pics.. i met some people you may know :)

this past week was nuts... i felt like alomst nothing got done ha we just partied it felt like... and were going through a stage where all the investigators we find are not very good.... so our numbers have dropped like crazy... so we have a lot of work to do! man saturday though... elder higham and i got so sick.... he was sick in the morning really bad but then just got worse throughout the day.. then about half way i got sick and threw up about 12 times.... only good news about that is that i lost 8 pounds that day haha so im not as fat anymore!!  for the six month aniversiary.. i was going to burn a tie but we had to spend the night in notingham so i didnt have time... ill have to do that when i find some time :) that is a tradition here i just havent ever done it.. six months though.... how weird is that? now i have started a sisters mission ha another six months and i only have a year.... i wonder if i have changed at all.. does it seem like i have changed?

well im really exited to speak to you guys soon :) i really love you all.... i havent heard from dad for ages so i hope he is doing ok.. tell him i love him :) did you guys get a box from england? i really really really really hope that makes it... ill be gutted if it dosent... so let me know! :)

 i have a lot of cool pictures from this week though... so ill take you through those :)

this is bishop kens brothers son!! ha his nephew!

he is a complete stud.... tell bishop i said hi!!

ok this is the christmas conference!!!! all 300 or so missoinarys in the ebm met up and had a good time :) ah man it was amazing!! i feel like i have made so many real friends out here..... ok so here is a few of them... so this girl knew shayna.. her name is mekenna morsen or somthing.. i cant remember her last name for some reason.. ha shoot she is from ogden and danced with shana in ball room.

 These pictures were taken at a Christmas festival that is held in Lincoln each year.

 Yes - Sterling is eating a donut!  I asked him about it and he said he's only cheated a few times on purpose.  This was one of those.

Switching of the hats!!

my trainer is home as well.. how weird is that!! ha six months ago I was stepping off the mtc bus scared as a scared guy haha.. but here we are :) i still have so much to learn..

ill be better with sharing stories in the future but ill say this for the ending of this email.......

my testimony of the savior has grown so much.... i just feel like my testimony has grown all over... love is somthing that god has for all of his children and that we need to have for everyone... something shay said my parents have always said is life is what you make it... or the mission is what you make it... there is no point in going about life sad and miserable.... there is times when that happens but thats not how god wants us to be.. so he will help us out of it :) prayer is a way to communicate with god.. if we ever need anything we just have to ask :) ask and ye shall receive knock and it shall be opened unto you.. go scripture!!

 i love you  guys!!! ten days till we get to talk :)

love elder wiser