Monday, March 24, 2014

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

Saturday, March 22, 2014

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!)

Monday, March 10, 2014

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!!!!!!

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

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

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Week 4 2/24/14

Hello! 

I am starting to think Sarah Ford must have walked on water here. Everyone I have talked to about her thinks that she has never sinned. President Hess said in a meeting with the AP's, and I quote, "the only thing we have to worry about with sister ford is that she might get translated before the next transfer." When I tell people that I am her cousin, I think they expect me to have a halo and a flaming sword, and you can imagine there disappointment when they just get me. haha

This week has been incredible and SO much has happened. Tuesday was Zone Conference and learned a ton. One thing I've been doing is working on sanctifying myself further so that the spirit can testify more powerfully as I teach. I fasted and made a list of all the things I need to improve on and am staying away from all of those things and we can already see the effects. 

We actually picked up a couple investigators while tracting of all things. We knocked into this foster family, and they were super open to learn more. They are parents to about 50 boys, and I am praying that we see success with this family. We have been teaching this older lady named Yevonne, who is basically the black grandma I never had. She has been investigating for about 2 years and we got her to pray about baptism on March 22. I am really hoping and praying that that works out!

We were sitting in the church parking lot waiting for an appointment who never showed, and so we decided to go knocking doors. We knocked about 10 houses and NO ONE was home on the whole street so we had to find something else to do. We decided to just start calling people we didn't recognize in our phone and so far we have gotten 5 appointments for this week with potential investigators. Now instead of listening to music in the car, we just call people ahah It was super awkward at first but now it is actually really fun. This allows us to always have our line in the water, and it is awesome how the lord blesses you when you do all that you can. We knocked on one door and we asked if she had a faith in Christ and she said,"NOT TODAY!"
 Elder Yates says,"Aw man... What about yesterday?" She said "You need to get off my porch" We smiled and said "Ok!" and she slammed the door. It was AWESOME!

We have been visiting a ton of less actives and are seeing good success. We got 4 less actives to come to church yesterday, and have picked up a new investigator from one of them! Our goal with every person we talk to is just to make them feel awesome. We visit people and listen to there stories, and within 20 minutes, I am filled with love for them!! I now know what it means to desire someones salvation, and the thought that any of these people should live with out the gospel scares and upsets me. I've noticed that the more we listen, the more they trust us. They more they trust us, the more willing they are to listen to our message.

We visited a less active yesterday named Sharla. She hasn't been to church because of some personal trials, but this lady is awesome and has some wicked spiritual gifts. She receives revelation through VISIONS!! She was telling us her conversion story and it was almost unreal!! Three times she prayed for guidance in her life, and every time,she had a crazy dream and the missionaries knocked on her door the next day! Her husband isn't a member and we are hoping that we get to teach him. Apparently she is an incredible cook, and she makes incredible mexican and indian food, and my stomach growls just thinking about it.

The lord is working miracles in our life everyday. Everyday is incredibly hard, but I always go to bed happy. I have found that my only bad days will be days that I didn't give my all to the service of my God. I can do nothing without him, and if you don't believe that just try serving a mission!!

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

Elder Wheat

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

2/17/14 First Week in Michigan!!


Greetings from Battle Creek Michigan!!!!

It is a small town which is best known as the home of Kellogs! Safe to say that I have never had so much cereal in my life!! My faith in Global warming is decreasing, considering their is 5 feet of snow on the ground and Im just getting used to the idea that being cold is just normal! There is a lot of poverty here, and its almost painful to see the effect it has on these people. It has made a lot of people here go somewhat crazy. As we knock on doors, it is always a surprise of who answers. We have had a couple doors slammed in our face which is awesome, but all in all, door knocking has gotten us NOWHERE!!!!

My companion is Elder Yates! Hes super fun and goofy, and is either singing, working out, or studying which I love!!!! He is a really great missionary and I am learning a lot from him!
 
The first few days have been really tough for me. We have no solid investigators, so we have resorted to finding. A LOT! I was getting really frustrated and upset. Honestly, it was all I could do to keep from crying at night because it just felt like we were getting nowhere. I kept reading Dad's letters and notes to me and that has really helped me to stay strong. On saturday during comp study, we decided it was time to find a new approach in finding solid investigators, the members! We decided that we need to start visiting more less actives and use them as a finding tool, because as much fun as door knocking is, it is really ineffective. I know now that that is the answer, because an area 70 came to church yesterday and lovingly laid into the ward council about being member missionaries. He  spoke on the Power of the Book of Mormon in sacrament, and the High council speaker said, "Something amazing is about to happen," in his talk, and that Hit me. Something amazing is going to happen in this ward. I can just feel it. We are beggining to help the members make family mission plans, and we can see their excitement growing. I am so thankful to have come from a family of missionaries, because I am always telling of our experiences with missionary work. I often talk about Kelsey, Nikki, and Destiny as proof that member missionaries get the most work done!!
 
Another thing getting beaten into me is the Book of Mormon. SO MANY people have emphasized including the Book of Mormon in every aspect of the work, including the Holy Ghost. I have been reading it again since I got here, marking everytime it references Jesus Christ, and in the first 12 chapters, I counted 249 mentions of him. The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ more powerfully than any other book. The feelings and impressions I have been getting while reading have been life changing, and it is hard to put it down. When I read, all my doubts, frustrations, and sorrows are gone. I become filled with love for these people here, and my testimony is strengthened. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that this is the Lord's work and not my own. That is the secret to happiness in missionary work. The moment you focus on the Lord, and on the people, it becomes the most fun thing you have ever done. When I serve, I dont feel the cold or the frustration. I dont see these people as different, I see them as brothers and sisters. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but somehow I am just happy. I cant wait to get back out there to find those that the lord has prepared!! 
 
Elder Wheat 




PICTURES OF ELDER JOSEPH WHEAT


ON ARRIVAL AT THE LANSING MICHIGAN AIRPORT 12 FEB 2014




Elder Anderson, Elder Gifford, Elder Nicholls, Elder Jackson, Elder Bertilson, Elder Wheat, Elder Elmer, Sister Jensen, Sister Rogers, Elder Fairbanks, Elder Giar, Sister Peterson, Elder Marley, Sister Tate, Elder Blatter, Elder Patterson, Sister Hess; President Hess






WITH PRESIDENT AND SISTER HESS







WITH HIS NEW TRAINER, ELDER YATES






TRANSFER GROUP IN THE CULTURAL HALL WITH TRAINERS


Front: Sister Jensen, Sister Rogers, Sister Tate, Sister Peterson, Elder Blatter, Elder Nicholls, Elder Anderson, Sister Hess, President Hess, Elder Marley, Elder Jackson, Elder Wheat, Elder Giar, Elder Gifford, Elder Marley, Elder Fairbanks
Back: Sister Anderton, Sister Mortensen, Sister Brems, Sister Anson, Sister KSmith, Sister Fulmer, Sister Holt, Elder Todd, Elder Jeppson, Elder RTaylor, Elder Bertilson, Elder Patterson, Elder Rhodes, Elder Gledhill, Elder Yates, Elder Chidester, Elder Oldroyd, Elder Kennedy, Elder Aitken, Elder Jacobsen

Saturday, February 8, 2014

2/7/14


Hello!! 
Its been a crazy roller coaster week here at the MTC, but I have learned a ton!

Well first things first, I got the bag and the cookies, as well as some donuts from Charlene so thank you very much!! Please tell her thank you so much! Unfortunately I sprained my ankle playing basketball so I was on crutches for a few days but no worries! Im pretty much all better but its still got some pretty colors on it from the bruising haha. Elder Giar and I were called as zone leaders which has been a major blessing. We serve in the same zone as the ASL missionaries, and they taught me the missionary purpose in sign language! I am getting pretty good at it! My branch presidency is absolutely unbelievable, and my district is unreal. The spirit has been so strong especially these last few days. 

We have been teaching 2 investigators, which in reality are glorified role plays. I learned that the spirit will not be there to help you teach if you have not prepared in the best way that you could have. We have had a couple poor lessons but its been good to know that this is practice. I feel like I'm becoming more sensitive to the spirit with every lesson I teach. Earlier in the week, we were teaching a guy named Nick, who is a really hard nosed military guy. Normally, he does't open up to elders, but we started talking about working out and he opened right up for us. The lessons we teach him go really well, but afterwards he starts attacking all organized religion, calling it pointless and hypocritical. He pulls out all these stats about the members of the church to make us look evil.No matter how many scriptures we used, or how much he testified, nothing worked. Everything he would say to us would stick in my mind, and it honestly led me to doubt. It was a major struggle, but with the help of my teachers, Ive made it through and my testimony of this Gospel is stronger than ever!

I never new what charity was until I came here, but after all these experience, it hurts me to think that people will reject this message, because they are rejecting true peace, freedom, and joy. How blessed we are to have this gospel in our lives!! I have seen the power of grace and the spirit change the hearts and attitudes of Elder Giar and I! 

I love you guys so much. The general authority devotional given by Elder Evans was on eternal families, and it brought so much peace to know that we can be together forever! This is a great place and a great work, and I look forward to bringing it to the people of Michigan!

Love you! 
Elder Wheat