My New Sister 3/17/15

So my time is very short this week, but I want to write about my newest sister Janell :) 

On Saturday, Elder Coziar and I took a 3 hour drive down to Lansing which was worth every second. There was seriously a glow about her as she was all dressed in white ready to be baptized. When she came up out of the water, she put her hands over her face and cried saying "That was awesome..." and as she walked out of the font, she repeated those words 3 times. She sat about two seats over from me and could not stop smiling. I glanced over at her and she looked over at me, and said "I feel so good!" She got up to bear her testimony and just about cried through the whole thing as she told her story.

The last year of her life has been very difficult for her. She found a wonderful church home, but something was still mission. Something told her to look up the Book of Mormon, so she did. I guess we didn't come fast enough the first time because she requested herself twice haha. She said our first lesson changed everything. I have never had an investigator understand things as fast as her. We invited her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and she says "I mean I'll do it, but I already know it's true... Is that weird? I just get this feeling about it..." We just about swallowed our ties, but it didn't stop there. She asked about Mormon culture and found she fit right in, especially the Disney movie part haha She asked how the missionary thing worked, and we explained that women go on missions at 19. She replied, "You mean I have to wait a whole year???" After her baptism. The first thing she told me was that she was saving up to go on a mission, and that she wants to be married in the Indianapolis temple. Elder Alley and I are already making road trip plans to come back for her going through the Temple. 

No event has ever brought me such joy as this. She alone has made my 2 years worth it, and that is to say nothing about 18 months worth of life changing experiences. There is nothing like a mission. Praise to my God!!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!

Janell :) 

How big was the TC storm? It uprooted this tree

The Elders of Israel

The Manistee lighthouse

8/10/15

So this week I am recommitting myself to writing a good letter, and I pray the Lord will help me do so.

This is the happiest I have ever been on my mission. The area is absolutely on fire and we are working harder than we ever have on our missions. There is nothing on this earth that is more satisfying that serving the Lord with all diligence of soul. That being said, I am being stretched all the time, and the joy does not come without great anxiety.

Jennifer is continuing to fight and struggle. She has had 5 close friends pass away this week, and each death has come immediately following a spiritual break through. After she texted us to notify us of the last one, we immediately went to visit her. Obviously her immediate question was "Why is all of this happening?" You know... This right here is the most amazing thing about what we do as missionaries. That people who are far our senior in years turn to 20 year olds like us for these kinds of questions, and it is a testimony to the reality of our call that we have the spirit to answer these kinds of concerns. We assured her that God is doing everything he can to comfort her in these times, and she bluntly responded, "That's a crap answer." What immediately came out was the response "No its not. It is no coincidence that God sent us to you right before these tragedies. Could you imagine going through this without somewhere to turn for spiritual support. These deaths are not because God is mad at you or is trying to punish you, you are someone innocent who was caught in the crossfire. But God truly is doing all that is possible to comfort you." It was a super intense experience. I don't think I have ever been so bold with someone as I was with her. May heaven help her. I love all my investigators, but her and her family are special to me. I don't know how she is hanging on, but to see her continue to progress is a miracle in every way. 

SImon Shaub was baptized on Saturday, which was such a sweet experience. I have loved teaching him, and it has been special to watch him grow. The spirit was very strong at the baptism, as it always is. He went immediately from the baptism into an interview with President Ensign for the priesthood, and will be going to the temple on August 22. Such a stud!!!

Final story of the week. I got a message from one of my favorite investigators in Lansing named Janell, asking for a favor. I said "Yea of course!! Whats up?" She nonchalantly responded, "Will you speak at my baptism? Its this Saturday." I just about had a heart attack... I am so flipping excited I can hardly stand it. I will write more of her story next week, but she is one of the biggest tender mercies of my mission. I got to talk to Elder Alley on the phone yesterday, and he told me about all the things that she is doing. The YSA ward soaked her in and took her to the Indy Temple open house, and she is very involved with church activities. To cap it all, he told me that she bore her testimony to them in a lesson, and she simply said, "I know the Gospel is true. I know the Book of Mormon and the commandments are true." They asked why the gospel is so important to her, and she responded, "So I can raise my family in it."

I feel like Ammon in times like this. My joy almost exceeds my strength, and all I can think to do is sing "Hallelujah! Praise to the Lord!!" I love my mission with all my heart. I have 6 months to go, and I will not stop or let up until the Lord shall say "It is done." I love it because its hard. Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is the connection in the scriptures between glory and suffering. The purpose of suffering is not really to punish us, but to change us and to refine us. It's not necessarily the pain that purifies us, but pain is a natural consequence of cutting and growing. If life is hard, good. That's how is supposed to be. The road to heaven is hard because its up hill, but I must say that the higher I climb, the more I feel the incredible warmth that radiates from the Son. 

Love you all!!

Elder Wheat

8/3/15

I have no time this week to write, but I just want you all to know that we are being blessed beyond belief here in Traverse City. The work is great, my companion is great, and the work is moving forward!!!

Just wanted to send a picture of a storm that came through yesterday. It left the city looking like a war zone. Trees everywhere. It was unreal!! Just kept singing "How Great Thou Art" the whole time.

Photo cred to Elder Allred

The 4th Watch God 7/27/15

I am happy to say that this is the hardest I have ever worked on my mission, and we see miracle after miracle. The week is honestly a huge blur from Sunday to about Thursday, though we had a ton of fun going up to the Upper Peninsula and working up there for a day. The Abend girls were baptized on Saturday, and they were so excited!! That family quickly became a favorite for me. Christ was not kidding when he said we should all become as little children. The sweetest things in the world!!! 

I have heard before that God often comes in the 4th watch, when the night is far spent and the storm is long lasting. That when all hope it appears is lost, the hope comes and delivers. That has been the theme of this week.

On Friday we had been knocking for about 3 hours straight and it became very discouraging actually. There were quite a few people who were either very rude or very afraid, and just about everyone was very uninterested. There were a few times where I had to pray for strength to continue in faith, and I am thankful that the Lord blessed me. We finished the streets we were knocking, and we only had about 15 minutes left until dinner, so we started weighing our options. We were about to head home a little early and make some calls, but then we thought, "No, there is somewhere we can go for 15 minutes." We started walking down the street again and worked our way towards a man and his family sitting on their back porch. The man saw us, rose to meet us, and invited us to sit down with him. 

We talked for a minute, and learned that his cousin is a member of the local branch. He asked if we had a scripture we wanted to share, then he added softly, "You know, your timing is wonderful. I don't know if you have seen the headline today, but that is my son." There son had just been charged with murder. With a scripture suddenly coming to mind, we introduced the Book of Mormon to him, and began to teach him about Alma the Elder praying for Alma the younger and how the prayers of righteous fathers are always heard and answered. As he prayed, it reminded me of the Saviors submission when he said, "thy will be done." I have not seen so great faith, no not in Israel. He and his family would like to know more, and said their door is always open. The feelings I had there were very tender and close to the surface. I hope good things come of that family. 

The last story I share will be about Jennifer. She just might be the death of me, but I LOVE her and her family. We have been on a roller coaster with her that I have been familiar with. She did not like Church at all (very unfamiliar). She feels peace when we meet with her and over the next day or so, until she goes to work. Then she is blasted with doubts and questions that overwhelm her. We had a breakthrough lesson where she learned by the spirit that instead of writing down her questions when we leave, she should write the things that she learned. That worked well, but the doubts kept coming. She was the purpose of our car fast on Saturday, that she would feel peace, but she came to the baptism on Saturday, and felt overwhelmed again. She texted us that night with another question, followed by "I don't think I am on the right path any more." Obviously sent us into worry mode, but that night she went to a ward party. We weren't allowed to go, but she found her 2 fellowshippers, and watched "Meet the Mormons. To make a long story short, she loved the movie (Bawled during the missionary part btw) and said, "If I can get passed the name and focus on the faith, it seems like this is the right path for me. I need to stop listening to my friends and just do what is right for me." 

We asked why she felt that way, and she said "the sense of peace that I have gets greater and that's what I want." Car fast. Answered. She came to church even though it made her late for work, and really liked it this time. Things are looking up with her. I don't think the stars have ever aligned quite like this for an investigator. God is obviously very mindful of her. 

Today, I was pondering over the last 18 months, and became very overwhelmed at all the extraordinary miracles I have seen in the lives of people I have taught. I honestly wonder why these things happen to me when there are missionaries far more faithful who see far less success. I thank God for the blessings I have seen and earnestly pray to be worthy enough to see more.

Elder Wheat

The Abends baptism

Mackinaw Bridge

View from said Bridge

7/20/15

The more you give in to your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you. The more we give, the more blessed and therefore the more indebted we become. My mission has created a strange relationship between God and I. I have become very aware of the distance between his offering and my own. Between his perfection and my fallen state. I stand in awesome wonder at his goodness and grace and in regretful recognition at my mistakes and short comings. I am very aware of the immense distance between He and I, but I have never felt closer to him in my life. I have been taught through his spirit that he is my Father, and that though my shortcomings make me feel forever distant, His amazing grace makes me feel intimately acquainted with him as a son to his father. 

This truth has been very apparent in my week. I often became distracted by things that have nothing to do with my calling, yet he blessed us so abundantly. It has been 3 weeks since my initial prayers that we would find people who would meet with us consistently, and we have been blessed with an incredible teaching pool. We have a baptism this weekend of a 9 year old girl named Hannah and her 8 year old sister Katie, the daughters of a less active family whom I have come to love! They are the sweetest things in the world. In 2 weeks, we should be having the baptism of Simon Shaub, a 17 year old who is a ton of fun. My story for the week comes from Jennifer, our miracle find from a few weeks ago. 

Jennifer will probably be the death of me. Whenever we are teaching her, she feels at peace, but as soon as we leave, doubt fills her mind and tears her apart, until we meet again and are able to answer her concerns, and the peace returns. Last time we met with her, we tried teaching the Plan of Salvation, and it was quite frankly awful. She did not understand the pre earth life and did not believe it, and the lesson just felt bad. We stopped and pretty much just said "This doesn't feel right. What is going on?" She opened up with a ton of questions, and was amazed at the answers. She felt so good about it she said, "Do you think I could have been born mormon and just didn't know it? I feel like I am a lot more Mormon than Catholic." We responded, "Do you want to know why all of this sounds so familiar?" We pointed to the picture of the Pre Earth Life and said "It's because you have been taught it before." We re taught that portion and she said, "Oh! That makes sense." She know's this is the right path, but again, when we leave, the doubts come back. She came to church, and it was so perfect for her, but she left because she was overwhelmed at how "different" it was. She texted us asking for help and said, "if this is right, I shouldn't feel so confused, correct?" 

I learned an interesting lesson from this. It is human nature to feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed at things that are unfamiliar. For example, the apostles were "terrified" when the Resurrected Lord appeared unto them, because it was so unfamiliar. We should not take that kind of fear for our answer, especially when we have felt peace about it before. If we want to find the truth, think of the times you felt that peace and assurance, and then focus on that. If we entertain our doubts, they will begin entertaining us. Focus on the peace, and there we will find the truth. We explained this too her, reminding her what she feels when she is with us, and she replied, "I know, that is what I am trying to hold on to is that peace." 

Please keep her in your prayers. 

I am excited for another week. They keep flying by and do not look like they are slowing down. I get to go to the Upper Peninsula tonight to blitz the Sault (Pronounced "Soo") Ste. Marie area, and I am PUMPED! I pray that my love for the Lord and his work can be shown through my actions. Love you all!!

Elder Wheat

The view from a street we knocked recently overlooking Grand Traverse Bay

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