Elder Joe Wheat: Consider the Lillies 04/21/14

I went on a trade off this week with one of the Zone Leaders named Elder Pace. This guy is crazy! He doesn't eat... He just works. It is crazy! I went out with him on Tuesday. We had been running from appointment to appointment all day, and only had about 15 minutes to eat until our next appointment at 7. I asked if we should stop somewhere and he said, "Elder Wheat, didn't Jesus tell his servants not to worry about what they would eat, and that he would provide for them? Elder Wheat, have we been serving the Lord today?" I said Yes of course! And he said "Then Ted (Our next appointment), is going to feed us." We knocked on his door, and he let us in. He offered us something to drink, and Elder Pace said, "actually, we haven't eaten yet. Do you have any bread?" And Ted goes "ABSOLUTELY!!" He made us Bologna sandwiches and gave us a brand new bag of potato chips. Not going to lie, that experience strengthened my testimony a little bit, and from now on, I will always "Consider the lillies!" Ted was the man though. He is a very Christ like man and had all kinds of cool stories. He is also a youth motivational speaker who owns his own organization. You are now looking at the newest member of CRI, (Character, Respect, Integrity)

We were driving around town with Johnny Freelove in between appointments trying to contact some less actives. We tried about 4 houses with no luck, and I looked at our Gold Mine map and I saw that Terrance Deter lived nearby. We took that as an omen, because Deter is president Uchtdorfs name (Different spelling, I know) and we drove there shouting "ITS AN OMEN" the whole way. We got to a pretty run down house, and a lady answered the door, recognized us and rolled her eyes and went and got Terry. He was an older guy, who mines crystals down in Arkansas. The first thing he said was, "You will never know how much I miss the church." He told us his history. He at one time had turned his life around. He joined the church in the Upper Peninsula, and told us about his ordination to the office of Elder, his service as scout master, and he cried as he told us about being baptized for his dad in the temple. He also told us that while he was in the hospital, a member of the ward sold 60,000 dollars of his stuff, and he swore he would never come back. He desperately wants to, but he felt that there was no hope for him. We talked for about an hour out side his house and came back later that week with the Elders quorum president. That meeting was inspired. Brother Mccouch shared that he two was robbed of everything by a once close friend. Not only that, he had been to prison and was wrapped up in all kinds of stuff, but told of his reconversion story, and how he had turned his life around with the help of the savior. It was powerful. Terry and Vicki (His non member friend) came to church this week for the first time in 10 years. It was awesome!!

Simone and her mom Gwen are doing awesome. They are probably my favorite people in all of Michigan! We call her mama Gwen now haha She is so funny and they are so fun to teach! We had a really great lesson on the priesthood and the Book of Mormon, and they understood it all. I was a little hesitant about the baptism invitation, but both of them said the would when they come to know the Book of Mormon is true. It was a miracle that they were so open to it! Pray for them!

Our lesson with Carenda was awesome. She soaked in the plan of salvation, so so far so good there!

Noah is progressing slowly but surely. We pushed his date back to May 3, and him and his grandma made it to church yesterday which was a blessing! We went to his 15th birthday party on Saturday during our dinner, and we felt super out of place. Everyone was smoking and drinking so that was great... Some of the older guys were playing basketball with the younger kids on a garage hoop and they needed an extra guy, so I said I'd play. I think they were a little surprised that "Church people" could play ball haha I have never dunked on a black guy in my life until that day. Sure the hoop was 8 feet high, but that is still a win in my book ahaha Your boy has still got it!! haha

We had a breakthrough lesson on priesthood with Grant, and he took a big step forward!

We had a very strange lesson with Sister Singe. It started out well, then her daughter came home and all hell broke lose. They started screaming and shouting and cussing at each other, because the daughter left a crock pot at a friends house. I have never seen a daughter be so disrespectful to a parent in my life. I will never yell at my parents again after that. We couldn't get out of there fast enough, and I was singing Love at Home all the way back to the apartment.

It is crazy as I look back on the last three months how far I have come. Talking to random strangers was once my biggest fear. Now it is my favorite activity. The Lord truly does make our weaknesses strengths. I have learned these Words of wisdom: If you act awkward, it will be awkward. If you are just yourself and just talk to people, it becomes the most natural thing on earth. And the even greater thing is, people start seeing you as normal, and a representative of Jesus Christ at the same time! Except for one guy this week who got super scared and said, "please go away" before we could say anything. I feel like people either see you as Jesus freaks, or Satan haha It is great! You just stop caring what others think after awhile, probably because you realize who you really are: A servant of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Thank you for all your prayers and I love you all!

Elder Wheat