7/13/15

Well brothers and sisters, another week has flown to I don't know where and life is good in Traverse City. I spent most of the week out of the area and a lot of time driving. We had a meeting in Lansing on Tuesday... about 6 hours of driving round Trip, and trade off with the Kalkaska elders and the Assistants. Safe to say I am exhausted. Life of a missionary I suppose. 

It was a very humbling thing for me to spend so much time out of the area.. because the area still saw so many miracles without me. Just goes to show that it is never the missionary that makes the work move forward. While I was in Kalkaska for a few days the following things happened in the area. They taught 5 lessons, picked up 3 new investigators, and talked to 60 people. As they were opening planning, they received a phone call from a member who said he has two daughters that need to get baptized and they are ready to go... Yes my friend... We can do that for you!! We also recieved word on Sunday that one of our 17 year old investigators named Simon received permission from his family to be baptized on August 1. One of the biggest tender mercies was this:

It all started on the Fourth of July, when I decided to change out of my dark pants into my grey pants before going out to work.. It sounds crazy but just wait. We went out to work and PC'd for a couple hours at Cherry Festival, which brings over 500,000 people every year. We couldn't even get anyone to slow down... We had a lesson there shine us, but then pick us back up, which meant we had to stick around for about an hour longer than we were planning. Not going to lie, it was very discouraging to be trying so hard and be treated so rudely. Nevertheless we kept on. The previous night, we had decided to check on a few members we didn't know, something we don't normally do, so we opened the Ward Roster, and picked out a few names. We fast from our cars on Saturdays here, so we were walking all day. We came to the street of the member, and saw that he lived about a mile down that road. We began walking when Elder Coziar asked, "Should we knock down to the house?" My first thought was no, but after passing a few houses, I stopped, and felt we needed to.

A few houses in, we met a couple of teenage girls watering their plants outside, to whom we said, "Hey! We are your missionaries! Are your parents home? They went inside and got their mom, who felt so bad that we were out in the heat wearing what we were that she invited us onto the porch for some water. We found out that she had just gotten home from a softball tournament downstate a few minutes before, (Hence why we needed to be at cherry festival so long), and we started making small talk with her. She continued to feel bad for us so she invited us to sit down at a table in the shade with one of her daughters named Maddie (16). Over the course of the conversation, she said that normally says no to missionaries very quickly, (She eventually realized it may be because the black pants and ties are intimidating. Weird.. But hence the grey pants) but she asked us what it is we do. That was the first of almost 3 hours worth of questions about our purpose and the gospel. One of the biggest miracles to Jennifer was that Maddie was so engaged in the conversation. She has major trust issues, and Jennifer was shocked she felt so comfortable around us. The only hold up Jennifer had about being baptized was being immersed in water. Huge miracle.

Their family was the subject of my fast on Sunday was for them and there progression. We waited and waited for them at church, but they never came. We got a text that said that she found something that bothered her on our Website and that she didn't want to meet any more.. I was heartbroken.. One of the saddest moments of my mission. On Thursday however, we got a text from her that said Maddie, of all people, talked her into meeting with us again. Elder Coziar had dinner with the whole family while I was gone, and answered her concerns, and she is back on track. I cannot tell you how excited I was to hear this news when I got back to the area. Halelujah!!!  Its going to be a slow process for them.. but things will work out. I am sure of it! 

It was an excellent week! Thank you all for all the birthday wishes and the love you have sent to me. I love you all so much! You will never know!! 

Elder Wheat 

Me and the Cake-in-a-mug I made myself

Grand Traverse bay on the way home from Kalkaska

7/6/15

First week in Traverse City.. So I guess the have something here called the National Cherry Festival and over 500,000 people come every year.. This is the place to be!! haha This was probably the most diligent week of my mission. I love Elder Coziar. He is probably the best missionary in the mission that no one has heard about, and I love how he is making me grow and stretch. 

We taught a lot and knocked a lot, but I don't have any stories I wanted to share, so I want to write about an experience I had last week. 

On my first day in Houghton Lake, we visited the Carothers and received a referral for there neighbors and best friends, named Carol and Walt. Neither were interested, but on a later trip, the Carothers asked if we could help them stack some wood for there wood burning stove. We went over every two weeks in the winter to help them out, and we developed a very strong relationship with them. On one of the visits, we offered to wash Carols dishes, which we didn't think much of, but she thought was "impressive as heck" that two 19 year olds would volunteer to do something like that. She began asking questions and her interest began to grow. A few weeks after I was transferred, I was told that she had started investigating the church, and last Saturday, she was baptized, and invited me to speak about that Holy Ghost.

What a sacred experience it was to get to talk to see my family in the Houghton Lake Branch. Carol was beaming from ear to ear the whole time, and the love and spirit which emanated from that room was almost tangible. I am so grateful for moments like these, which remind me why I serve. Her life has changed and her influence has helped change the Carothers. I love my mission!

Being transferred can be a very uncomfortable experience. You get so close to the people you serve with, and for those who don't know how transfers work, you are called on Friday, you pack up everything you own, and leave on Monday, to a knew area, a new companion, and a new life. I felt very uncomfortable and out of place my first few days, but I had an experience on Tuesday I need to share. We were teaching a lesson on the importance of the Book of Mormon, when something happened. As we taught and testified, I felt something enter my heart. I felt warm, I felt peace, I felt comfort, I felt... Home... Here. In a strangers house, in a place I have never been, with people I did not know... I felt home. One of the many things I love about the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that it is the only thing about missionary work that doesn't change. Anywhere you are can be paradise as long as you have the spirit of the Lord with you. I am thankful that God cares infinitely more about my growth than he does about my comfort. He will not always remove trials and heart aches for the same reason a surgeon won't stop in the middle of operating. In a strange, round about way, pain is the only way we can be made truly whole and be truly healed. Of these things I know and testify of in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Wheat

Carol, Walt, the Carothers, and all the missionaries involved

Transferred to Traverse City 6/30/15

Family and Friends! 

As has been indicated, I have been transferred to Traverse City aka the Garden of Eden. This place is GORGEOUS!! My goodness. My new companion's name is Elder Kaden Coziar from Ogden UT. I am going to love this guy. He is super funny and laid back. He has been out a transfer less than me, and we are going to tear it up.

I do have to say, that getting transferred never gets easier. You feel just about as lost as a new greenie every time haha At the same time I love it, because its an opportunity to rely on the Lord for help and support. It was very hard to say goodbye in Lansing, especially to Elder Alley, Sarah, and Janell.Those three are family. Sarah is usually not an emotional person, but when we came to say goodbye, she wept like a child and said, "I knew this was going to happen and I didn't want to cry, but you guys have changed my life. You have no idea how much I am going to miss you Elder Wheat." I am amazed at what the Lord has done for her and her family. 

I don't have any time today to share about this week, though it has been one of the most unusual weeks of my mission. Thank goodness I keep a journal. They will be stories for another time. In the mean time, I just want you all to know I am happy, safe, and overwhelmed at all that God is doing for me. Love you all!!

Elder Wheat

View from where I am emailing

Janell and I

Sarah and the best kids on earth

Got to see my sons at Transfers!!

Elder Coziar and I 

The view from the Appartment

New Address:

603 Bayhill Dr. Apt 9

Traverse City, MI 49684

I love to see the Temple 6/20/15

So SURPRISE!!!! I am emailing on Saturday this week. I had the opportunity to attend the temple today which means moving the day of our Preparation/emailing days to today! Can I just tell you how much I love the temple? What a special and sacred experience was to be back in the house of the Lord for the first time in 16 months. 

I had an experience there that I don't ever want to forget. I baptized a young man in January named Will Robinson. He is 14 years old and is like my little Brother. Today as I walked into the temple, I saw President Herlin, who is the Branch President in Houghton Lake. It would have been enough to just see him and his wife, but he also told me that the came on a youth baptismal trip and that Will was there! One of the more special experiences of my mission has to be seeing him in the Temple. It's been a long time since I have felt that kind of joy. I love the Temple.

I have to be honest and say that I am very spiritually and physically tired, so if this email is very short and incoherent, that is why. The week was one of the more productive I have had on my mission. We didn't have any trade offs or administrative things to do so we worked our tails off. We did a lot more door knocking than we usually have the opportunity to do, and we saw miracles. One of the days we talked to 10 people or so in the first hour and picked up 7 potential investigators and set up 5 new appointments for the following day. So far, we have found 4 new investigators this week which has been a huge blessing. I have no idea why the Lord is blessing us so much here in Lansing. On top of that, I recieved word that another investigator from Houghton Lake named Carol is getting baptized this next Saturday. The blessings are coming in a steady stream, and it is a miracle to be a part of. What a great work is being done in my past 2 areas. 

As for my weekly Sarah update, we have the best ward, and she is the best missionary in the world. Her and Tiffany are secretly reading together, her daughter Sarah is went to girls camp on Friday, she was SOOO excited to tell us about her downloading a ton of new "Mormon Apps and Games" for her kids, and she is literally inviting everyone and her mother to church haha. She has been such a huge strength to my testimony and I will forever love that family.

Janell is on date now for July 25 and is doing super well. We have had some huge miracles where we were about to walk by people but felt prompted to go back and they needed to talk to us. I cannot tell you how blessed this area is and how happy I am to be and serve here. Transfers are this week, and I have been here 6 months now, so I am on the Chopping block. Who knows what the future holds for me, but I am thankful for what has happened in my past and all that I am experiencing now! Love you all!!

Elder Wheat

The Detroit Temple

OH!! That was GOOD!! 06/15/15

Every baptism is speacial, but Dominick's was something else. His whole family came, including his Apostolic aunt, grand mother, and great GREAT grandmother. I was just waiting for a "HALLELUJAH!" to come out of the back row haha They have been waiting many years for this day, and were so excited to see it come to pass. They told us that if we could baptize him, we could baptize any one! I think the most excited one of them all was Dominick... He is usually a way quiet and reserved guy, but as he came up out of the water he shouted, "OHHH!! THAT was GOOD!" We all couldn't help but laugh. That smile of his for the rest of the service was so beautiful! Love this guy!! 

The week itself can be summed up in what went down yesterday. Dominick was confirmed, which was awesome, and Sarah and Janell came to church. Both of there dates for baptism were pushed back, but both are still way excited. Now I come to Sarah. We picked up her daughter Tiffany as a new investigator, and she had some incredible questions. They say that you are sent on a mission to your area because there was someone there that only you could touch. I am usually not a fan of that philosophy, since I sincerely believe God could do it without me, but the night of that lesson, something they said changed all that. The said the feel a special connection with me that they can't explain, and I responded that I could promise that it wasn't me, to which she said, "Doubt it. God is great and I feel you were hear for a reason deeper than you know. When you talk, we feel God strong." I don't think I can possibly receive a better compliment than that. I remember opening my mission call, and thinking "Seriously?", but I thank my God daily that I was called to serve in the Michigan Lansing Mission. There is nothing like being told by an investigator that you were called to an area to find them. 

Sarah Quote of the week:

"I have been watching the funeral of Elder L. Tom Perry (1st off, what investigator does that? haha ). Pretty deep... I can feel the love and the spirit so deeply... I honestly feel that being a Mormon is the way to go! Never felt this way. I have a lot going on lately. Almost didn't go to church, but the Holy Spirit said I must go, and I did. He talked to me through church today." There are no words. 

Janell is still way solid. We had a small anti scare, but she breezed through it. She came to church and out of the blue texted us afterwords saying "Church was great!" She wants to slow things down, but for a good reason. She came to Dominicks baptism and loved it. I look forward to her continued progression and conversion. 

Over the last few weeks, I have had the wonderful opportunity to give multiple blessings, and I wanted to share a couple of the experiences. We administered to a Sister Ware, a less active in the ward who has been plagued with infection, dementia, and addiction, and has been in the hosptial for 5 weeks without many visitors. The sister missionaries preceded the blessing with a beautiful spiritual thought on the Faith to be healed. While giving the blessing however, I felt strongly that I was not to promise healing. Rather I felt to comfort her with the knowledge of her near future freedom from this body and her forthcoming glorified body awaiting at the resurrection. The sisters were very surprised at the blessing, but notified us yesterday that she will probably pass away this week. Please keep her family in your prayers.

Saturday we were called to administer to a new born baby, who had air pockets in both lungs, and had contracted pneumonia, and was in the Neonatal ICU. It was a very sacred experience, in which I did feel impressed to promise healing, and yesterday we recieved word that the blessing worked, and the child was doing great. 

We don't do it enough as men, but I wanted to express my gratitude from the priesthood, and for our Heavenly Fathers incredible trust in giving it unto men. I know that it is real and was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

I really hope my joy in the work does not carry me away unto boasting, for I know that the Lord can do all of this and much much more without me. I am just so thankful and overjoyed that he has chosen to do this portion of the work through me. 

Love you all!

Elder Wheat

Dominick Lassiter Everybody!

6/8/15

I never thought I would have said it 5 months ago, but I love being a zone leader. The love I feel for the missionaries under my stewardship causes much anxiety to my heart, but I strangely love the feeling. I pray that every missionary could learn to love their mission. I pray that every missionary will feel joy and satisfaction in there work. What could I do to help them love what they do, and do it with diligence. Much of my thoughts this week have been spent on how to help the missionaries in my zone. Most of them are doing wonderfully, but there are a few who are very discouraged, and that hurts me. I have been anxious about converts, missionaries, and investigators to the breaking point this week, but I trust that they are in the Lords hands. I just have to trust that he will take care of them. Notwithstanding all these things, I will do what I can cheerfully and leave the rest to the Lord.

Let me tell you about Sarah! If there is anything I am sure of its that the adversary is real. That being said, we have power to overcome. She is being hit hard from everyside and is frustrated that she isn't changing as fast as she wants to. Her family is hard on her for the decisions she is making but she is not letting it stop her. Her significant other is not as enthused as she is, so the marraige has been pushed back, as well as the baptism, but she is just as on fire as ever. In one of our lessons, she needed to vent about everything going on, and we read Mosiah 4:27 with her which reads, "See that all these things are done in wisdom and order, for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize." After the lesson she posted on facebook:

"Had a meeting earlier with some very awesome people ,, I swear you two have something real special . I. Am ever so thankful you have entered my life ... The script you read to. Me has set in.. I keep hearing those words of not running a marathon just sprint ..." Gotta love it :)

This week she brought 3 of her daughters to church, 1 of whom is her 20 year old daughter Tiffany. She was previously against the church totally but now she is very interested. She felt a little lost at church but must have loved the feeling. Last night she told her mom "Ma what if the real reason they came into our life is to bring me to God? For me to believe in God because I have soooo many questions and always have." I swear we did no missionary work on her!! It was all Sarah! We should be picking her up this week as a new investigator :) 

I think I am just going to start a quote of the week from her haha this was my favorite from the week. She posted:

"Went to church then had a meeting with the Elders , they know how to make a person feel sure about themselves and comfortable ... I have made so many changes in my life but the best one is deciding to find the lord And incorporate him into my everyday life ... Amazing what prayer and reading scripts and going to church can do to your life ..."

Dominick will be getting baptized this weekend barring any tragedies. He is so awesome. He doesn't open up to much, so a lot of people are questioning his real intent, but he has such a heart of God. He texts us multiple times to make sure we have a way to get him to church and when he got out of a members car yesterday, he just says, "I am so excited for my baptism." Nuff said :)

Now, let me tell you about the biggest miracle of the week. We picked up a new investigator on Monday named Janell. She is turning 18 this week and just graduated High School last week. She got super into church last year, but became curious about other religions, so she requested herself twice on Mormon.org, because the first time we weren't fast enough. It was probably the best Restoration of my mission, and at the end we put a Book of Mormon in front of her and invited her to read and pray. She said, "I mean.. I'll do it, but I already know it's true... Is that weird?" We asked her how she knew and she put her hand on her chest and said, "When you put the Book in front of me, I just had this feeling that gave me chills, and I know it's truth." Ummm... What? She will be baptized on June 27, and here's the kicker. She asked how the missionary thing worked, and we told her that young women go at 19, and she said, "You mean I have to wait a whole year???" Yea... never in a million years did I think I would commit someone to serve a mission in the first lesson. I love her!!!

You know.. as I read through these emails, I realize that people who read them must think I am insane. I may sound happy and full of joy all the time in my emails, but I must say that missionary work is crazy difficult. Between sending these emails, there is a lot of sweat and tears shed. There are heartbreaks and stressors everyday. It is the most difficult thing I have ever done, but I am thankful that the Lord blessed me to get excited about little things, like a post on facebook from an investigator. No one may feel or see the significance of these small moments, but they mean everything to me. They carry me from day to day. I love the little things, and I am so grateful the Lord helps me see them.

6/1/15

Well... I have the impossible privilege of writing about my week. The night before Elder Jeppson gave me a blessing in which he prophesied that the Lord was allowing the adversary to work on me to prepare me for the great work that was about to take place in Lansing. Let me tell you about how that is coming to fruition.

Now... So much has happened in Sarah's progression, that I cant really tell you the whole story, so I just want to quote some messages she sent us this week.

Her significant other was just rushed to the hospital where he almost died. She spent all night there, but the next day sent us a text saying, "I wanted to say with everything going on in my life lately I wanted you to know I made time to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon. I enjoyed it... You have no clue but you guys may have saved my life. I'm being honest." Her family has expressed opposition at first, but her previously anti-religion mom is now reading the Book of Mormon and is coming to church when she comes to visit. Her mom was so excited she already picked out a dress. Her daughters come with her every week and her son expressed that he would like to come too. 

She isn't married to the man she is living with, and we haven't taught the law of chastity, and so we wanted to try something. Our commitment to her was going to be to have her pray and ask God one thing she can do to help her prepare for baptism, hoping the spirit would teach her the commandment first. The problem was, before we could extend the commitment, she wrote us saying, "I have another question after everything me and " well my spouse " has been proven our love for each other I want to know after I get baptized I want to take the next step to get married ..how and what do I do ?? Or do you know ??" We talked about it in our next lesson and an hour later we got a text from her saying, "My husband said he wants to go ahead and get married... I told him what you guys said and he said lets do it." I swear we are not doing a single thing... I am first hand watching the Lord change a life, and it is spectacular to watch. No word can express, nor tongue explain how she is progressing and how it feels to witness. My testimony has been so strengthened by her. A few minutes ago, she wrote to me, "I ended up reading to chapter 9 last night could not put it down .. I wanted to read father but my eyes started feeling so heavy ... Hahaha" I love my mission!!!!

Dominick isn't far behind. We moved his date back to June 13, which we all feel good about, but he is so excited about the gospel!! I can't even begin to write about everything that has gone on this week. I haven't even written about our miracle new investigator named Corey. Hopefully I can next week when I have more time. Until then, I want to bear you my testimony that this is the Lords work. I feel like I am not doing a single thing to move it forward, but the Lord is showering his blessings. I love my converts and soon to be converts more than anything in this world. I love you all and thank you for your prayers!!

Elder Wheat

That awkward moment when you photo bomb your companions epic nature shot.

Check out this toast Elder Alley made me! What a guy!