3.24.14

It is crazy to me how fast the transfer has gone! I cant believe I am already half way done with being a greenie! I can't begin to describe all that I have been taught, but all I know is that God really does live, and that this gospel is the way that he has provided for us to feel peace.

This past Thursday has been the best day of my mission so far! Studies were amazing, and the spirit taught both of us some great ways we could improve our teaching. We realized we don't let the spirit teach enough. That was made evident on Sunday when we tried teaching the Restoration to a new investigator, and we basically shot her with a doctrine shotgun. She participated very little, because we were to busy talking, and we ignored the promptings that told us that she didn't need to know the Restoration yet. She barely had a faith in Christ, and here we were teaching about the great apostasy and why prophets are so important. We even lost the members who were there. They actually fell asleep. In essence, it was a total train wreck. When we left, we both felt awful, and knew something had to change. Teaching people and not lessons became very real for me that night. We came up with a new way to teach. The missionary should only open there mouths for 4 reasons:

1.Ask a question

2.Teach a simple doctrine

3.Read a scripture

4.Testify of a simple truth

We felt that this would allow the investigator a better opportunity to ponder and think about what the spirit is telling them, and help them understand the principles better. It also helps us teach by the spirit, and something Ive learned is that if you aren't feeling the spirit, then its time to shut up haha We put that to the test and it is amazing what the Lord has done with our teaching.

Our first lesson was with Yevonne, and we felt that the best thing we could do with her was just read the Book of Mormon. We prayed about what chapter would be best, and we felt that Ether 12 was a good one. We started reading and it was talking about faith, and she stopped and said, "I am so happy this brought that up!" She started telling us all about what she is going through, and how faith can help her. We taught very simply through lots of questions, and the spirit started teaching her from there. When it was time to leave, I noticed a change in the room. I felt that a sense of peace had come over the room. I asked "can you feel that?", and she said, "yea... what is that?" I said, "that is the Holy Ghost telling you that all these things are true." She could not stop smiling! She is getting closer! I can feel it!

We taught a lady named Simone. She is a former Seventh Day Adventist who is seeking to find God more fully in her life. She is SO PREPARED!!! We taught her the Restoration and she was SO excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. She had all kinds of questions, and all of them could be answered with the Book of Mormon. I was so excited I was like shaking and falling out of my chair, and Elder Yates had to put his hand on my knee to calm me down ahah. I am so excited to teach her again! She is so gold!! 

The craziest lesson we taught this week was definitely Grant. We had an initial goal to teach him covenants to subtly help him understand why Baptism is so important, but he saw right through that. He went to Jacques baptism, and one of the speakers mentioned that baptism was just the beginning. He was rather offended by the idea that all he had done was worthless without baptism. He expressed that he had been following Christ his whole life, and if his life and belief wasn't good enough for heaven, he didn't want to go. At this point, I was like "Holy crap... How are we ever going to recover from this..." and I said I silent prayer in my heart that the spirit would tell us what to do. Afterwards, Elder Yates told me that he had a simple thought, "Lets look to the mortal Christ" and he turned to Luke 2. I wasn't sure where he was going with that, because I felt prompted to turn to another scripture, but as he started reading, I realized he had the better idea. He read about all the great things Jesus did growing up before he was baptized, and the spirit prompted me to know where to go from there. I asked, "Did Jesus getting baptized cancel out all the good he had ever done before that? No, it allowed him to do more." We testified that God doesn't ask us to be baptized because we aren't good enough. He asks us do it because we can do even more when we are baptized. We pled with him to not settle for good enough, we asked him to go for incredible. I don't think I have had a more powerful experience in any other lesson I have been in. He was silent for awhile, and he said, "You know, that makes sense, thank you for that." The spirit TOTALLY made all that happen. I don't know how that lesson was successful, save it were divine intervention.

We have been learning so much. I have never felt closer to the spirit in my life. A scripture that keeps running through my mind is in John 8, when the Savior says that he only does the things that please his father. If it didn't please the Father, he didn't do it. Period. I feel that that needs to be all of our mindsets. As I have come to understand that scripture more fully, I am starting to get over my perfectionist attitude, and I am starting to stop caring about what anyone else thinks, because the only opinion that even matters is God's anyways. Who cares what others think about you? Who cares if they love or hate you? As long as you are pleasing your father, it really doesn't matter what anyone else may think. As I am developing this mindset, I am starting to feel the spirit more, because I am not worried about impressing others, and as a result, I am not being so hyper critical of my own shortcomings. Life is so much better when you get out of your own way, and just please the father. As long as you do that, there is no reason to ever feel upset or frustrated. Happiness really is a choice, so when you think to groan, choose to laugh, and the spirit will testify that you have great cause to rejoice, for you are being faithful! 

Life is good!! Love you all!

Elder Wheat

3.17.14

This week has been a little bit tougher but the Lord is blessing us still!! 

The weather is super bi-polar. On Tuesday it was 55 and sunny, and on Sunday it was 5 degrees. On Wednesday we had half mission training, but the story of how we got there was probably the craziest part! The training was in Grand Rapids which was about an hour and a half north. It started at nine, but we heard it was going to snow through the night, so we decided to leave the house at 6:30 am in hopes that we would make it there at 8:30. Unfortunately, it snowed about 8 inches that night, so we were stuck going 25 mph just to leave Battle Creek. Then came the crazy part. We got stuck in a blizzard, and I swear that it was an answer to prayer that we were driving behind a snow plow. We couldn't see anything, except for the faint lights of the plow through the snow. We couldn't see the road, and if we hadn't been following that plow, we probably would have gone off the road. So that was exciting, and then we got stuck in traffic for 2 hours. It reminded me of home. Wonderful. We finally got there after about 3 and a half hours but we were safe!! The training was amazing, and it made me realize how much more I need to do be a more successful missionary. One of the AP's is named Elder Patterson. He reminds me so much of myself, except a million times better at missionary work. When I hear him speak, I feel the spirit, and I hope and pray that I can be like him. The other AP is Elder Bertilson. He is one of the most Christlike People I have ever met in my life. He is from Sweden, and he is sadly going home next week. I feel so close to those Elders, and they have given me a great standard to shoot for. 

Tyler's baptism was this week as well as a young woman named Chana that the sisters in the area were teaching. Before we left for the baptism, I was thinking about what this baptism meant. I began to imagine that I was in the Celestial Kingdom with Tyler, and it filled me with so much joy to think about that. It wasn't just another baptism anymore. It was Tyler entering into the gate that leads to eternal life. I can't quite explain how awesome that feeling was... but it was something I won't ever forget. I pray that he can press forward with steadfast faith in Christ, and continue to study his scriptures. I pray that he can continue to strengthen his faith in Christ. I pray that he can learn what it feels like to be cleansed through the atonement of Christ. I pray that he can feel all that I have felt and learn all I have learned, and more. He is such an awesome kid, and it is amazing to see how the Lord is changing him.

Yevonne is going backwards. She has the same three concerns she had 2 years ago, and no matter how it has been explained to her, she just doesn't understand. It is so frustrating but I love her to death haha. She is just the kind of person you have to love into it. 

Jazmine, the girl we gave a blessing to, totally flaked out on us. She cancelled our appointment, and when we called to set up another time, she hung up when we said it was the missionaries. I guess now I am beginning to understand what missionary work is like ahah

Noah is an awesome 14 year old kid we are teaching, whose grandma is less active. She and his mom wouldn't let him get baptized because he is bi-polar, and they fear that he would have to repent to much... I know right? We were shocked too. We invited her to pray and ask God what Noah should do, and the next time we went over, we taught how we can access the atonement through baptism and what repentance really means. We invited Noah to be baptized on April 12, and Sis Carrier (Grandma) said that she had prayed about it, and after speaking with us about it, she wants Noah to be baptized!!!!!! The spirit made that one happen. We just have to meet with his mom and talk it over with her.

I am learning so much. It is so frustrating when you knock on someones door and they slam it before you can say anything. It is frustrating when you bear your testimony of this marvelous gospel and they reject it. It is frustrating when you know someone has felt the spirit testify of this truth, and hang up on you when you try to set up an appointment. It is heartbreaking to think that they will never know what it feels like to be a member of this church. If I feel this way, I can only imagine how Christ must have felt. He suffered for all of our sins and pains. He went through every human suffering imaginable, and he was rejected, spit on, forsaken, scourged, and crucified by those people that he had just suffered for. I suppose that if he can still be joyful and loving after all that, I can be a little more positive when the door is shut in my face.The work is getting harder, but that means this is an opportunity to strengthen my faith, and rely on the power of God. I am always amazed at his perfect love for me, even though I have fallen short so often. I can feel that he is my biggest cheerleader out here, and I am so grateful for him.

This is an awesome work. Its been so much fun, and I can feel how much I am growing! Love you all!!

Elder Wheat

Elder Patterson and Elder Bertilson, the APs

 Tyler and I

Tyler, Elder Yates, and I

Cereal for days (all free!)

3-10-14

Hello my beloved bretheren!!!

This has been the most humbling week for me. On Saturday I ways able to attend the baptism of Jacques Shipe. I can't describe how different baptisms are as a missionary. I realize now why they are so important. They are a witness unto God that we are willing to follow him, and that we are promising that we will become more like the Savior. I cannot think of a more wonderful promise in all the world. Watching someone else make that covenant has filled me with so much excitement and joy!! It truly is a marvelous work!!!

Miracles of the week:

Tyler is progressing so quickly! Teaching him is almost like teaching a sponge haha he just absorbs everything so quickly and he is just so excited for his baptism on Saturday!! It is so fun to watch the spirit work him and see him change with every lesson that we have! I cannot be more excited for him!

Before we walked out the door on Friday, we specifically prayed that we would find a new family that has been prepared for our message. We had 4 lessons set up and literally every one fell through. We ended up knocking doors for about 5 hours with basically no success. The only person interested in talking was a man who proceeded to try to Bible Bash with us. We felt the spirit leave and so we left too haha. The whole day went somewhat like that until about 7:30 when we got an unexpected text message. It was a referral from Mormon.orgfor a lady named Jazmine. We stopped by her apartment and she was SO excited to see us!!! She has 2 adorable children of 2 and 3 and has been going through all kinds of trials, and is desperate to find out if God is there.She had just been praying for answers when we knocked on the door. We shared a message on heavenly fathers love, and we gave her a blessing of comfort. Afterwards she could not stop smiling, and she just said, "I feel so numb!! Like a weight has been lifted." We left a Book of Mormon with her, and set up a time to meet with her again. They were so prepared for the Gospel. Its cool to see that when people are searching for God, he tends to put the Missionaries in there way. The Lord had answered our humble prayer, and I don't understand why! 

Missionaries have been teaching this guy named Grant for about 2 years and he knows the Gospel is true, he just hasn't gotten an answer about baptism. The reason he hasn't is because he doesn't pray, read, or come to church which is kind of frustrating. In comp study I had a thought as to how he can get his answer. He loves writing poems. He gives us one in every lesson without fail. I had a prompting that he should write a poem about Jesus's baptism, because the spirit works with him through his poetry. Miracle #1 was that he came to church Sunday. He came up to me and expressed how he had been studying Jesus's Baptism in preparation for his poem, and he has gotten a whole new deeper meaning out of that story. He was just amazed at this new knowledge he was getting. I knew he was feeling the spirit. I don't know what it was telling him, but he is feeling it. What enhanced that miracle for me was the the night before, I had been frustrated and prayed to know that I have helped somebody come closer to Christ, and the very next morning, I got my answer.

Funny Story:

We knocked on this older lady's door and she shouted, "Come in!!!" In my head I was saying, "I seriously doubt you'd want us to if you knew who we were!" We opened the door and poked our heads in and saw her sitting on her couch. Before we could even say that we were servants of Jesus Christ, she shouted, "NOPE! Go away! And shut the door!" We said, "Have a nice day!" and closed the door behind us. I felt that it was kind of ironic that I had just slammed the door on myself... I am not sure how I feel about that yet.

It honestly isn't fair how much the Lord has blessed us. I feel more like a spectator than a missionary sometimes. When we show the Lord that we are willing to do all we can, he puts people in your path. I don't even feel like I am doing anything... I don't understand why the Lord is being so good to us. I have realized this week that the Lord can do this work without me, but I cannot do it without hi. It has truly been a humbling experience to watch the Master's hands at work, and it is such a blessing to be a part of it!

Elder Wheat

Jaques Baptism!!!!!!

2/3/14

What a week it has been!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to write about just a couple of miracles we have experienced in Battle Creek!! 

We were out knocking doors before dinner one night. We had just finished knocking, and we started walking back to the car. I feel prompted to knock on one more door, and we met a woman named Claudia and her son Jake. She invited us in, and we got to know them a little bit. They are devout Christians and are really die hard in there church. We talked about the restoration and we read to her out of the book of mormon. She commented how similar it was to the Bible and she committed to read and pray about it! Before we left, she told us the that she wasn't going to join any new church because she loves her church and wont join any church that she cant follow along with the Bible. In my head I was just thinking, "You say that now, but just wait until you start feeling the spirit!" I have super high hopes for them! We are teaching them again next friday!

We are also having a Baptism this weekend!! His name is Jaques. He has been taught since last summer and at last he his finally being baptized!! He is a really big guy who is confined to a wheel chair so it should be an interesting experience but I am excited to be a part of it!!! 

We met with a lady named Freida, who is less active but has a heart of Gold!! She is a super awesome lady but struggles with some of the commandments. I felt impressed to share this story with her:

There was a little girl who went shopping with her mother. They were walking down the toy isle, and these beautiful plastic pearls caught her eye. She begged her mom to let her have them and of course her mom gave in. This little girl went everywhere with these plastic pearls. She wore them all the time and never left the house without them. One night her dad came into her room. He asked, "Do you love me?" She says, "of course daddy!!" He says,"Then give me your plastic pearls." She says, "NO DADDY!!! You know that I love you, but I cant give up my pearls!" He says, "I guess you dont love me as much as those pearls," and he left. The next night, he came into her room, and she had piled up all of her toys, dolls, and stuffed animals. He asked, "Do you love me?" She said, "Dad, I love you. I will give you my doll house, my toys, my animals, but please dont make me give up my plastic pearls!!!" He says, "I guess you don't love me more than your plastic pearls" and he left. The next night he comes in to her room again, and finds her holding her precious plastic pearls. She looked at him and handed him her pearls, and said with tears, "Daddy, I love you more than my plastic pearls" He took them from her and put them in his pocket. He said, "I always knew you did," and pulled out a beautiful string of real pearls. 

When I finished, Freida looked at me and said, well now I feel awful, and I got really happy because that meant the spirit was prompting her to change. 

I have noticed that every one of us has our own plastic pearls. For a long time, I have struggled to give up my plastic pearls, but I have found that as I have started to do so, I am seeing heavenly father pull out a beautiful string of new pearls for me and I now realize how worthless my plastic pearls were. When ever we are struggling to keep the commandments, go to church, read our scriptures, or do anything else the Lord asks, we should ask ourselves, "What think ye of Christ." Our willingness to do what the lord asks is a direct reflection of how much we truly love our savior. Giving up our plastic pearls is a major act of faith, but the lord always comes through with a brand new string of real pearls.

The last miracle of our week came on Sunday. After church, a 17 year old young man named Tyler came up to us. He had been coming to Church for two months now and asked if he could be baptized. I about fell over. We taught him the first lesson last night and he is so GOLDEN!!! It was an absolute miracle, and I can believe I was able to see it. 

I have come to appreciate our saviors infinite mercy more and more every day. I know that he lives, and i know that true joy is found as we come to know him, not just know about him. Each day that we dont remember him and what he has done for us is a day wasted. He makes so much more out of our lives than we ever can on our own. I notice how unhappy I get when I am not working as hard, and I notice that the only cure for that is going out and doing something for him. I actually love knocking doors, how sick is that? ahah True happiness is found in the service of our God. There is no other way!

I love you all!! Thank you for all that you do for me!

Elder Wheat

 The Battle Creek missionaries! Tyler is the kid standing next to me!

My first day!!

MTC Zone Leaders/ Sister Training Leaders