Week 18

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Transfers tomorrow!! I'm super excited and nervous...President Called
me this morning and told me I'm going to train someone :D I'm honestly
really sad about leaving Elder Flynn, but so excited to train!!

A lot to tell from this week, and not a lot of time to tell it...again...haha

Monday- made pies with the Zone Leaders at the Cathcart's home (none
of which we actually got to taste...) and hung out after.

Wednesday- Juan, a young man from the stake, spent the day with us. We
had a lot of fun and contacted a lot of people. Cool story! We were
biking down a street, and a minivan cuts us off and pulls over and a
Navajo lady jumps out and starts walking towards us. She says they
just moved down from Flagstaff where they were meeting with
missionaries, and they want to finish the discussions and be baptized!
We set a return appointment for later that night! Her name is Jennifer
and she and her husband Kirby are super cool and really just need to
get married to be baptized! (Again, waiting on marriage...)

Thursday- Thanksgiving!!! We had the whole day off! We joined the zone
leaders at the Cathcart's home for breakfast, then headed to the stake
center for some turkey bowl flag football. Disclaimer: I'm really bad
at flag football. Haha but it was a lot of fun. We had a huge
Thanksgiving lunch at the Wright's house, a huge Thanksgiving dinner
at the Brewster's house, and some really good pie at the Schafer's
house. Then we went back to the Cathcart's house and watched the
Testament and ate more food and played headbandz and had a ton of fun.
I have never felt so full in my life. I weighed myself that morning
and that night. 9.5 pounds of food consumed. Yesss

Friday- we spent all week making calls and getting ready for Aiyanna's
baptism! We were so excited! Then, at 9:30 Friday night, exactly 13.5
hours before the baptism was supposed to start, we get a call. They
want to move the baptism to next Saturday the 5th. SWEET. Haha so that
was fun. That was a crazy night, canceling with everybody. But now
their family will be able to come to the baptism, so it all works out
:) Now my trainee will get to have a baptism his first week in the
mission!

Saturday- we got up super early and went to the Temple! It was a great
way to start the day :)

Today- went to Buffalo Wild Wings for the first time ever (danggg that
place is good) then our whole zone went to president Cathcart's
Chiropractic office and got free spine adjustments. He's super cool
and does a lot for the missionaries.

Great week! Lots of people contacted and lots of good lessons. Side
note: Elder Flynn almost ran over a cat with his bike. Missed it by an
inch. That was definitely a highlight of the week.

Christmas lights and trees are starting to show up!!! It makes me so
excited :D I actually broke down and wore my coat this week. It gets
pretty cold at night! I never would have expected that...

Read Preach My Gospel! I'm learning so many things from a serious
study of this book. I promise that alongside the Book of Mormon it
will strengthen your testimony and give you a greater understanding of
the gospel.

That's all. I love you all! Have a great week!
-Elder Wheeler :)

Week 17

Hi everybody!!! :)

This week was awesome! Except We spent all day helping Elder Stott
make pies for thanksgiving, so I don't have a ton of time to write
about it.

Tuesday was a ton of service! We helped serve lunch to the homeless,
and then helped organize toy donations for a Christmas drive :)
(Christmas is around the corner!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah :D)

Wednesday was cool too. We installed Tiwis in all of the mission cars!
They monitor our speed and report bad driving to the mission
president. A lot of missionaries aren't too happy with them, haha.
That night I also did a half day exchange with my district leader,
Elder Dennis, which was super fun. He's a stellar missionary and I
learned some good things from him :)

Friday we also did exchanges, and I was with the District leader's
companion, Elder Bradley. It was also a ton of fun, and I learned some
great things from him too. It made me really grateful to be in the
Glen Lakes area though. They are both super hardworking missionaries,
but their area doesn't have nearly as much work to do. Every area is
different, and I'm really lucky that I was able to be trained here :)

Aiyanna is on track to be baptized this Saturday!! Super exciting :)

Also super excited for Thanksgiving! We might have 3 dinners. :D

Our Mission President challenged us at the beginning of November to
finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Im trying to be
better at studying and reading in my free time, and I think that was
his purpose in challenging us. I'm already in Alma 7 and I'm on track
:) I love the extra measure of spirit that I've felt, even here, as
I've been more diligent in my studies. I know the Book of Mormon is
the word of God. It will invite the spirit, open the doors for
revelation, and strengthen your testimony. I invite all of you to
study it or study it harder :)

Next week is transfers so I won't write til Tuesday. Have a great week!!
Love you all :)
-Elder Wheeler

Week 16- Clowning around

Hello!! :)

How's everybody doing? Is it getting cold up there? I had to wear a
sweater and gloves almost every night this week! That plus a few
houses already putting up Christmas lights, it's exciting! I love
winter :D

This week was awesome!
We did some service on Tuesday for a charity kitchen for the homeless
(Haha I really don't know what else to call it) and it was pretty fun!
Lots of nice people and lots of leftover cookies :) also that day was
our zone leader, Elder Stott's birthday! Which doesn't actually mean
much on a mission, but ya know. Haha :)

Wednesday was cool. It was 11/11 which was cool. Then we had a lesson
with a lady who happened to live in apartment 1111. We were running
late to our 1:00 appointment, so we knocked on her door...at 1:11.
Completely coincidental. Awesome!

Haha also, that night we had probably the best lesson of my mission so
far. We met with Ainsley and Cory, who are both under the age of 30
and MARRIED. That's hard to find, but makes it so much easier on us
missionaries :) But yeah, they were completely open and honest with
their questions, and they accepted an invitation to read the Book of
Mormon! I'm really starting to feel more confident in my teaching, and
it makes lessons wayyy more fun when I can rely on the spirit and work
with elder Flynn :)

Saturday, we spent the morning clownin' around. Literally. We helped a
family move into our ward, and to make a living, he is a legit clown!
We got to move unicycles and costumes and juggling pins and all sorts
of things that serve some clown purpose! Also, he served his mission
in Boise, ID! Really cool guy. I connected with a clown. Hmmm...

Haha anyway, I'm almost out of time. I taught a discussion this week
on Alma 48:17. I love captain Moroni. I think there's so many
qualities that made him who he was, but the one I focused on was
preparation. He is always prepared to meet the lamanites. As we
prepare ourselves, through church attendance and scripture study and
prayer, we can have our spiritual armor on, and be ready to shake the
powers of hell. Just like Moroni.

Love you guys! Have a great week :)
-Elder Wheeler

Week 15

Hi guys!

We went on a super cool hike today! We hiked about 3 miles up to
Indian Mesa, and saw some legit Indian ruins (for future sake,
coordinates: 33.965034 - 112.226551). We woke up at like 5:00 and just
got back, so I pretty much have no time. I'll send pics later!

This week was crazy busy, but not with a ton of missionary work. Our
roommates moved in with some members, and that took a few days. Plus
we had district meeting and zone meeting and interviews with
President, all awesome. Then, we had state conference Sunday, which
was really good. Elder Oaks and a few others spoke, and it was a great
broadcast :) The different schedule threw our investigators off
though, and none of them showed up to church...

We have 3 solid investigators on date! Aiyanna, a 9 year old girl. Her
parents are some of my favorite people ever! She should be baptized
the 28th of this month, if all goes well :) We also have Kohonna and
her 13 year old son, Dante on date for the 21st of this month. They
kinda just disappeared off the face of the earth for a few weeks, but
we finally got a hold of them and now they're taking lessons and on
date again like nothing ever happened. Haha they're really cool
though, and Dante has some crazy questions and we love meeting with
them :)

My Ponderize scripture for last week: 2 Nephi 31:20 I feel like there
is a lot more meaning to this scripture than I have time to share
here. I love this scripture! Feast upon the words of Christ. There's
really not a better way to draw closer to Heavenly Father :)

Gotta go, have a great week everybody!
-Elder Wheeler :)

Week 14

Happy Halloween!!!

How was everybody's Halloween? I hope it was good!
Ours was awesome! Our ward did a trunk or treat, and it turned out
really cool! Sadly, none of our investigators showed up. Why would you
not show up to get free chili and candy?? I don't know, but they
missed out. It was really fun! There was some really good chili there,
and I convinced bishop and a few other members of the ward to eat
ghost peppers with me. Ouch. After I could almost taste again, we
risked a walk through the young men's haunted house, which was
actually super cool! President gave us all an early curfew that night,
so we had to leave before the actual trunk or treat started. But that
didn't stop us from bringing home pocketfuls of candy! Haha back in
our apartment, we sprawled out on the couch's pull out bed and watched
the new Joseph Smith movie. Also ate a lot of candy. The other Elders
weren't in the mood for carving our pumpkin though (I was a little
bummed) so we had some journal/study time and hung out in the
apartment. Pretty great night :)

This whole week was a little crazy. Tuesday was normal, and we
contacted a lot of people. Wednesday through Saturday consisted of
helping members of our zone move apartments, helping members of our
ward move apartments, helping investigators with yard work, and a
great district meeting (elder Flynn did an amazing job on his
discussion about the great apostasy). We also had a LOT of cancelled
lessons...kinda disappointing, but we contacted some new people
because of it :)

Other news:

Our upstairs neighbors, AKA the ones who share their wifi with us,
moved on Friday. So, no more wifi in the apartment :( I guess we were
a little spoiled, now we have to go to the front office to send emails
again.

Our roommates, Elder Gardner and Elder Stott are moving out on
Wednesday. They are going to move in with a super awesome member of
the stake presidency. Side note: his wife makes the best chocolate
chip cookies in the mission. Only a little unfair.

I got a little brave today and cut my own hair. Not that I don't trust
Elder Flynn, but I wanted to learn how, juuuuuuuuuuust in case I don't
trust my future companions. Haha I cut Elder Flynn's earlier this week
too, and we both look fabulous!

Apparently we had an earthquake here last night? We didn't feel
anything, but we heard a lot about it today on the news!

Spiritual thought: we have a new transfer scripture! Alma 7:11-12.
This goes hand in hand with the scripture I talked about last week. I
think I may have even shared this scripture before, but it's that
important. The atonement is such an incredible thing. I know it can
help us change into better people. Ive felt it every single day out
here, and I'm so grateful for it! :)

I hope y'all have a great week!

 

These are a week late, but here's (in order) Trayston, Jolene, and
Shanneil. Super cool family :)

Week 13

Not a ton of time today, sorry. We spent the morning eating pie, going
out to lunch with some members, mini golfing with the zone, and having
the most intense air hockey tournament of my life. Too much fun, oops
:P

Real quick overview of my week!

SERVICE. Our mission is trying to build a "culture of service", so
we've been doing a ton of it! Pics to come :)

A ton of work. Our mission president says he will take our zone out
for "a lunch...a GOOD lunch" if we contact over 1000 people this
month. WE'RE SO GONNA MAKE IT. Plus, it's leaving us with more lessons
than we have members willing to help with, haha. I guess it's a good
problem to have :)

We have a new roommate, Elder Stott. He makes pies. But not just any
pies. Like, really really really good pies. *huge smile*

Spiritual thought: it's amazing to see how much I've learned already.
One of my all time favorite scriptures is Ether 12:27, and I have
gained such a testimony of that principle. My Heavenly Father really
does have a plan for me. As I patiently and prayerfully try my best,
and don't get discouraged, I can feel myself changing into a better
missionary. More importantly, I feel myself becoming the missionary
that HE wants me to be, even if it's different than what I expected.
He knows what's best for us :)

Ok, gotta go! Love you guys!! Have a great week!!!
-Elder Wheeler :)

I got tired of not seeing any grass down here- there are hardly any lawns- so I decided to grow my own lawn.

Week 12

Hi everybody :)

This week was awesome! It's been 12 weeks, and now I'm done with
training! I'm a real missionary now!! Aaaaaaaaaaaah it's crazy to
think I only have 7/8 of my mission left! It makes me just wanna go
baptize everybody right now!! Haha :)

This week was transfers, and I was totally nervous about switching
everything up, but we found out last night that I get to stay with
Elder Flynn for at least another 6 weeks! Which Is awesome! He's one
of the most dedicated missionaries in the mission, and just a solid
guy :)

The work this week was pretty uneventful, just a lot of it. A lot of
contacting new people and some really good lessons!

The weather this week, however, was CRAZY. we had 105 degrees and dust
storms and rain and hail and flooding and wind and knocked over trees
and all sorts of crazy stuff. Storms here are weird, they come out of
absolutely nowhere, rain harder than I've ever seen for 5-10 minutes,
then completely clear up. 30 minutes later there's not a cloud in the
sky, just flooded streets everywhere. Those are fun to bike
through...haha. Nothing like Idaho weather that I'm used to!

Highlight of the week: Trayston and Shanneil recieved permission from
their dad, so we were able to baptize them and their mom Jolene on
Saturday!! I personally baptized and confirmed the girls, and it was a
really cool spiritual experience :)

Other news: our roommate Elder Ogden headed home yesterday. He was a
great missionary, and I looked up to him a lot :) that's the funny
thing about missionaries. when one of them goes home, it's like a
feeding frenzy over their old stuff. A bunch of broke teenage boys
fighting over clothes and shoes and food and hair gel and who knows
what else...haha it was a first for me. I did ok though, I got a cool
speaker system and some workout gear :D

That's about all I have time for, we have a dinner to get to.

I hope you all are doing good! Have a fantastic week :D

-Elder Wheeler :)

Week 11

Hi guys :)

This week was cool. Literally. Haha it dropped below 85 once and never
got above 95, it's sooooo nice by comparison :D

It's been a good week though, I'm almost done with training and Elder
Flynn is starting to put more responsibility on me. According to the
12 week training schedule, I get to lead everything starting tonight,
so it's really exciting! I'm almost a real missionary :P

Super good news, we should have 3 baptisms this Saturday! Jolene, and
her two daughters Trayston and Shanneil are ready and excited!! :D
notice I say SHOULD...the only problem is the parents are divorced and
Dad lives on the Navajo reserve and doesn't exactly love the idea. I
don't really understand the whole situation, but there could be some
nasty legal issues if they don't get signed permission from him first.
Sooo we are waiting to hear back from him. But, with a little luck
(and lots of prayers) it should work out! I'll keep y'all posted :)

The work here was slowing down a little bit, but it's picking up
again! Also, transfers is next week, and I feel like change is
coming...
P.S. Next week, my letter will come on Tuesday :)

Cool stories this week:

We were biking home last Monday night, and we passed a hay field.
Which was totally normal, except we looked and the huge stack of hay
bales was on fire! So that was kinda cool! We got to watch the fire
department come and put it out. Also got to teach a guy while we
watched. Not a ton of promise, but it was a good lesson :)

We stopped by this place, Rainbow Donuts. OH MY GOODNESS that place
was life changing. They had the best maple bars I've ever eaten, and
these super good apple cinnamon rolls and this weird strawberry fruity
pebbles donut and both me and Elder Flynn ate way more than we
probably should have...

We had zone meeting Friday and me and Elder Flynn got to teach
everybody about loving the people. Probably the best lesson I've ever
taught! ...in the humblest way :P it's cool to recognize that I'm
starting to learn my stuff, and grow more confident in teaching it :)

Other than that, just doing my best to work hard and be exactly
obedient. There's a lot of rules, but the days where I set goals and
really focus on obeying rules, I feel the spirit so much stronger and
I don't feel as shy or homesick and it's awesome how much of a
difference it makes! :)

Last thing. Something that was brought up in conference, and also zone
meeting, that I thought was really cool.
Smile :)
Go on, do it right now. A big cheesy grin!
"I just like to smile. Smiling is my favorite" (name that movie)
Smiling while you work is so important! It makes it easier to love
people. It builds confidence. If you do it enough, without fail, it
makes you happier. I think it shows God that I really am willing to do
whatever he wants, and I feel the spirit more because of it. That's
something I've been focusing on this week :)

I hope you all are doing great! I love you guys!

Until next week,
-Elder Wheeler :)

Week 10- General Conference

Hi guys!!

Conference was amazing!! Probably the best one yet :) (of course I say that every time...haha) unfortunately, we weren't allowed to watch at a member's home this time, we had to travel to the dark, relaxing, sleepy, stake center :P haha just kidding, I think I was more awake than any of the other missionaries there. So many good talks and notes to take! oh goodness it's so hard to pick a favorite...I got a lot out of Elder Hales' talk.  I also loved Elder Holland's talk and Elder Foster's! But I think if I had to pick the talk that stood out most to me, the talk by Larry R Lawrence. Asking "What lack I yet" is something I feel will really make me an even more effective missionary and member for the rest of my life!

This week was a ton of contacting! We're trying to add people to our
teaching pool, because we've either baptized, put on date for baptism,
or scared away all of our investigators...haha. Finding some really
cool people with some good potential :)

So today me and Elder Flynn had a little fun today. We bought a hair
cutting kit from Walmart and cut each other's hair. We look FABULOUS.
haha actually turned out really good. I'll send pics today or soon.
 

Crazy to think I've been out almost 3 months! I love it here a little
more every day :)  I'm learning all sorts of new things, and I only have 2 more weeks until I'm done with training! Then I'm a real missionary :D

I hope y'all are doing good! Have a great week :)

-Elder Wheeler :

Week 9- Baptism!!!!

Hi guys!

Zone activity today, bowling again! I bowled 4th place in the zone at

a 123 which is a personal best. So yeah, I guess you could say it's

been a good day :) Haha super fun, but it means I don't have a lot of

time...

A few AWESOME things this week!

free quesadillas? Um, I think yes. Haha a quesadilla truck came to our

apartment complex on Friday and gave he first 50 customers a free

quesadilla. Not just any quesadilla mind you, a legitimate, guacamole

and pork and cheese and who even knows what else on a homemade

tortilla quesadilla. And you bet I was the very first one in line :D

MARIAH GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! And I got to be the one to baptize her! :)

She was so excited, like, literally bouncing off walls. They showed up

early to the event so we could explain everything and set everything

up, and we gave her a cordless vacuum and I think she vacuumed the

entire building...twice. Really cool experience though, the spirit was

so strong :) and just as spiritual was the confirmation that Elder

Flynn did 2 days later in sacrament meeting. A mission is a lot of

hard work, but moments like that make it soooo worth it :D

A mission is a lot of proselyting, and a lot of service. We spent

Saturday morning helping a lady move into the ward. Among other

extremely heavy things, we moved a couple thousand beanie babies up 3

flights of stairs into her new apartment. Ouch. Those little guys may

look cute and harmless, but when shoved into giant trash bags and

carried up stairs, they will kill you. No joke x)

So yeah those are the highlights of the week! I gotta go now, I hope

you all are doing well :) have a good conference week!!!

#imreallyexcited

-Elder Wheeler :)

Sent from my iPad

Week 8- Moving apartments

Hello everybody :)

Not a ton to write about this week. We moved apartments, which took a
lot of time. Our old apartment was definitely, um...in better
condition, haha. Something about the AC in this one makes it super
humid all the time, enough so we have to cover our scriptures and
books when we go to bed. It's also cold, like all the time, plus the
humidity means we get to put on sweaters when we study. Which is
AWESOME because I actually love wearing sweaters and hoodies and I was
worried I wasn't going to be able to here in Arizona :D so even though
I help Elder Flynn mess with the thermostat and open the vents and
tinker with everything to try to fix it, I secretly love it :) haha
also it's a nice contrast to the 96 degrees outside! Which is another
thing, it's cooling off! I bought a sweater today, not because I
really need it yet, but because I'm just getting excited for winter :D
haha

Our new address is:

8150 N 61st Ave Apt 1129
Glendale, Arizona 85302-6770

One big thing that happened this week, Mariah had her baptismal
interview!! Josh and Mckenzie decided they don't want to be baptized
right now, but that Mariah was completely free to if she wanted to,
and she was all like "heck yeah I do" and then we were all like "heck
yeah you do" and now she's getting baptized on Saturday!! (not exactly
what was said, but you bet I was thinking it :) haha). So as bummed as
I am about Mckenzie and Josh, I'm just really excited that we get to
baptize Mariah! I'm really impressed with her testimony and her
desires to read the scriptures! We meet with them later tonight to
figure out details :)

One more thing that was pretty cool was that we had zone tour on
Friday. The name zone tour is misleading, because it's actually more
than one zone, and they all gather together in one building, where a
general authority comes and speaks to us. We got to listen to Elder
Foster and Elder Montoya of the Seventy. It was really cool, and I
learned a lot about how to build a better relationship with my
companion, my ward, and my investigators.

Other than that, just a lot of people not home this week :P haha but
you get used to it.

Out of time, I hope everybody's doing good! Have a fabulous week :D

-Elder Wheeler :)

Sent from my iPad

)

Week 7

Hi everybody :)

This week was CRAZY!

So for starters, I mentioned in my last letter that it was transfers week. Because I'm still training (for 12 weeks total) they didn't reassign me or Elder Flynn...but they did to a few elders in our apartment complex. Which, long story short, means we get to move apartments. Again. Cuz it's not like we just got settled in or anything. Haha :P

But it's actually ok! Because the other apartment has WIFI!! Which means I will hopefully have a little more time to write letters on Pday, and also means we won't have to leave our apartment to update our areabooks! (The iPad app we use for everything) It also means there will be 4 of us in the apartment instead of just 2. We are joining the zone leaders, Elder Ogden and Elder Gardner, in their apartment. They are both really cool! Even though it's kind of a pain to shift things around, I think this will be good for me. I guess I was starting to get comfortable where we were, and it's hard to learn and grow if you don't stretch.

"There's little growth in a comfort zone, and there's little comfort in a growth zone"

-someone in the MTC

We should be moved in by next week, so I'll send the new address then :)

On Friday, we got to help a 90 year old couple rake their lawn. The only catch is that they xeroscaped their lawn, which means instead of grass they had rocks. Which looks good and all, but requires meticulous raking skills (which of course we have) and good rakes (which unfortunately we didn't have) so it took us a lot longer than we thought. Also elder Flynn got a flat tire, so we got to walk 45 mins home. Haha, crazy morning. But I'm not complaining, because it was all worth it, and they really appreciated our help. Let's face it, if you give honest, selfless service, you can't help but feel good afterwards :)

Also on Friday, I had the opportunity to lead a discussion in district meeting. I had to cover 2 sections from preach my gospel: the Light of Christ, and Relying on the Spirit. I was terrified! Here I was, a little 6 week old missionary, teaching all these much more experienced elders how to rely on the spirit when they teach. It gets even better because we got super busy with the service project and lessons the night before, and I ended up with about an hour total to study and prepare for it. But it was super cool. I said an extra big prayer, and went to work. I learned some incredible things by the spirit, and totally relied on the spirit when I taught, and it went really well! I was able to share some cool insights and I felt the spirit really strong when I taught. When all was said and done, I was really grateful for the opportunity :)

Lots of good work going on here! Lots of people to teach and we're staying busy :)

Last thing! So we had an interesting talk with Mckenzie and Josh last Tuesday. They told us that they know for a fact that this church is true, and that they are so grateful for everything we've done for them, but that they aren't going to move out or rush getting married just to be baptized. Which we completely understand, eternity is a long time :P So, they're not getting baptized anytime soon. The good news is that their 9 year old daughter Mariah is SUPER excited about everything in the church, and hasn't missed a day in her Book of Mormon reading since we've started teaching them. She's almost done with Mosiah, which is awesome! There's nothing holding her back from being baptized, and they all agreed she still could! She has her interview this Saturday and is getting baptized on the 26th! It's super exciting for us and her :) I'm just worried about Mckenzie and Josh becoming "eternigators" (eternal investigators who love the church but won't take the steps to get baptized). We have another couple who have been investigating for over a year. It's hard to become so close with them, and see them so close to these blessings, but holding themselves back...

That's about all I have time for! Keep looking and praying for missionary opportunities! There's not a lot of things better :) ooh and then write to me about them!

I really appreciate everybody who writes me, letters and emails make my day :)

I'm sorry I don't always respond right away, but I'm trying! Haha 

Until next week!

-Elder Wheeler :)

Week 6

Hello everybody!! I forgot to tell yall, but today was P-day. We had transfers this week, and P-day got bumped back to today!

This week has been sooo awesome though. So much progress and so much work to do and so many people to visit and so much food to eat and I can't believe a transfer is already over! PS- a transfer is just the name for a 6 week period of time. Every 6 weeks they send out a mass text with the names of the few elders and sisters being transferred and it's all super exciting! Because I'm still training, I get to stay at least another 6 weeks with elder Flynn :)

Lots to talk about!

We have a new investigator on date! Kohonna, and her son Dante. Both super cool people! To make a long cool story short, we happened to knock on their door a week after she had attended our ward without us noticing. They are both pretty solid and should be baptized on October 10th :)

Jolene and Trayston and Shaneel also should be baptized that day! Super excited, they're progressing really well :)

Mckenzie and Josh kind of hit a wall. They are living together, but have only been dating for about 2 months. I don't mean to sound insensitive about this, but I'm gonna put it really simply.  In order to get baptized, they need to either get married or move out, and they are really having a hard time with that. Which surprises me, because they have both shown some serious faith. Mckenzie started paying tithing before we even told her about it. Josh completely didn't notice a burning building, because he was so into reading the Book of Mormon just a few buildings away. These guys are so close, they know it's true! But every time we ask about the law of chastity they just get, bleh about it. Aaagh, it's so frustrating! These guys are the very first lesson I ever taught on my mission, and they and I have come so far together! You really do start to care a lot about the people you teach.

Funny story: so we went to Carl's jr for lunch on Thursday, ya know, because we were feeling fancy. As we walked out, we decided to talk to this tall guy with dreadlocks standing by the drive through. We asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and this was his exact response.

"Oh yeah man I believe in the lord the savior the lord son of the God Jesus Savior the lord almighty savior God of the Son of the Lord Jesus Christ the lord!" Umm ok. We got in a few more questions before he cut us off, "Hey man I been here forever, imma go get high on somethin" umm ok. Haha

It's cooling down a ton! I think it only got above 100 degrees like twice this week :P

Our ward mission leader, brother Gerhart, wears the ugliest old man ties I've ever seen. He's very proud of his ugly old man ties. AND I GOT HIM TO TRADE ME ONE. now I'll always have something to remember him by. (I'll send pictures later) :D

On a more spiritual note...

Lots of things happen after 6 weeks on a mission. 

-you realize how much you don't know

-you realize how much you do know already

-you start to realize your strengths

-you start to realize that maybe, just maybe, you CAN do this for another 22 1/2 months

-you have said so many prayers, your knees hurt

These last 6 weeks have been really hard. I don't know how I would have done it without the strength and power I get from from prayer.  I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ so much. Sooo much. The Atonement is so real. It's a topic that I feel like I could study every day for the rest of my life. It's so amazing, and it's so relevant to everything I do in life. I'm so grateful that I get to help others come to understand this for themselves. This church is incredible, and every day that I study and teach about it, my testimony gets that much stronger.

I hope you are all doing fantastic! The church is true!

-Elder Wheeler :)

Week 5

Hello everybody :)

I have good news and bad news!

Good news: we had a zone bowling competition today! Which my district
won (like there was ever any doubt). Yayyy

Bad news: that happened in place of our normal shopping time, which
had to happen in place of our normal lunch time, which had to happen
in place of our normal letter writing time, which means I'm not gonna
say much today...haha

I will say this!

There is so much stuff happening! We hope to have 3 more people on
baptismal date this week! Jolene, and her 2 daughters Trayston and
Shaneel, who are all super cool and have really cool names that
neither me or Elder Flynn can ever say right.

We had exchanges on Saturday, except this time I stayed in the area
and Elder Flynn switched out. So I got to be in charge for an entire
day! I was super nervous! But it was good, we got a lot done and I
learned a lot in the process. Elder Dennis is a total dork, and I had
a ton of fun working with him for a day!

Mckenzie and Josh and Mariah are sooo excited to be baptized, and that
makes me excited! :) We should have a wedding in the next few weeks,
and I think me and Elder Flynn get to plan it!
#thethingsyoulearnonamission

That's all folks! As always, letters make my day, even if I take an
eternity to respond. I love and pray for you all! Have a fantastic
week :)

-Elder Wheeler :)

Sent from my iPad

Mission Address

Elder Nathan Wheeler
c/o Arizona Phoenix Mission
18001 N. 79th Avenue #c-50
Glendale, AZ 85308-8394

So this is an attempt at a racquetball action shot. Meh

Week 4

Wow it's week 4.

Umm yeah so this week has been the hottest, busiest, dirtiest, spiritual-est, awesomest week yet!! (All of those are real words)

I don't have much time today, but I have a few highlights I want to share :)

We did exchanges for the first time. I was with my zone leader, Elder Gardner! He is super cool and I learned a lot from the experience. Both he and my companion Elder Flynn are fantastic missionaries and I have a lot to learn from both of them.

I'm getting better at racquetball!! I only lost to Elder Flynn 5-11 this week. That's a new record :)

Lessons with Mckenzie and Josh and Mariah and Dillon are going really well! We might need to move their baptismal date back a few weeks though, because they need to get married first...haha. I might get to help plan a wedding!

I've really been praying to have and recognize the Spirit this week. Let me just say, the lord answers prayers. I've had so many small and large experiences where I followed promptings and really cool things have happened :)

Galatians 5:22

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith"

I'm gaining such a testimony of the Holy Ghost and of how it guides us and keeps us safe :)

My time's about up! until next week :) I love you all!

--

-Elder Wheeler :)

Biking! 
P- Day!!!! 
#youknowit'shotwhenyourcactusmelts




MTC District


On the way to the airport- REALLY EARLY!
All the newbies.
Low quality picture of a high quality sunset!

Week 3

Hi everybody!!

I've got some stories for you today :)

Story #1

We were at a member's home for dinner. Super nice family, super cool kids. They didn't feel like setting the table, so we all sat around the living room with these cool little desk things. To set the scene, my plate was in front of me, my fork was on the right of the plate, my roll was sitting a little to the left, and my full cup of grape juice was sitting out on the edge of the desk above my plate. Got it? Ok good. So I start eating my food. A minute or so passes, and their little 5 year old boy walks up to my desk and stares at me. Then, without breaking eye contact, grabs my grape juice and takes a sip. I laughed and the parents freaked out and they got me a new one and everything was good. But then he does it again. The exact same way. Solid eye contact. No expression. The parents didn't notice this time. So I just kept eating, trying not to be too weirded out. Then he does it again. This time he bolts down the hallway and into a room and slams the door, where he stays for the rest of the night. Umm what? Ok, I guess some kids really like their grape juice.

Story #2

So I guess I didn't know that gospel rap was a thing. Antonio, the one I mentioned last week, is really cool. We were at his house on Saturday, and he rapped for us about religion and his faith and life experiences and it sounded really cool! He's making some albums and he wants to give us one! I don't know if I'll be able to listen to it until I get home though, haha.

Story #3

This was just last night. We were biking home from an appointment, and Elder Flynn really wanted a picture of him riding his bike. But apparently I couldn't take it right, so we kept trying different poses and different angles and shutter speeds and all this other camera stuff that I don't understand. Haha so long story short we ended up taking longer than we meant to on this picture. Then, we were biking back and he was in front and he decided to take a different way back to our apartment, which was weird because it was dark and there weren't many streetlights on this road, but I went with it. So we're biking home down this backroad, no cars, no nothin. I didn't even see this young kid until we were passing him on the sidewalk. We kinda half waved at him as we rode by, and he starts yelling to us. It totally caught me off guard. He yells at me "hey are you guys the Mormons? I wanna know God." I couldn't believe it. His names Louise and he's 13 and he has a Mormon friend and he is super open to praying and learning more. He lives in the apartment complex where we do most of our visits, but we had never seen him before. I don't know why Heavenly Father keeps preparing more people for us and placing them in our path, but I think it's super cool. I'm so grateful for all the work there is to do here!

Story #4 

I have a confession to make. I miss yard work. I miss mowing lawns and trimming bushes and watering plants. On Saturday we got up early to help a recent convert with some yard work, and I was really excited. Turns out, "yard work" in Arizona just means raking up dead pine needles from the rocks. Spraying grass killer on the rock lawn (literally, people just have gravel lawns). Pulling up plants that had died from the heat. Everything here is dead or a rock. Haha, oh well...

So Mckenzie and her family are doing really well :) They're still on date for September 5th. We have a lot of others that were trying to get on date, but we had a lot of people cancel on us this week. Im learning an important skill for college... how to handle rejection :P

All in all, everything is good! No matter how much I workout in the mornings, all of these member meals are making my belt a little tighter...Mormons make good food, and that's bad for missionaries...

Wanted to share a thought with you guys. These past few weeks, I've come to realize that our message is entirely centered on the atonement of Jesus Christ. I think it's so incredible that he loved me enough to suffer and die for me. And he did the same for all of you too. He did that so that we could be happy. Not only does it cleanse us of sin, but it gives us strength. I can honestly tell you I could not have made it through this past month without it. He is so real, and he is right there, waiting for us to turn to him and ask. I love the Mormon message by Elder Holland called "none were with him". If you get a chance, watch it. I love my savior so much and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to help others find this for themselves :)

Thanks for writing you guys, it really makes my day :) I promise I'm trying to respond as much as I can!

I hope everybody's doing good! 

-Elder Wheeler :)

Sent from my iPad

Week 2- #eatsleeppreachrepeat

Heyyo!

How's everybody? :)

The work is great!!

This week has been AWESOME!! We have 4 people set to be baptized on
September fifth!!! So the first night I'm here, I don't even have my
suitcase unpacked, and we go visit a referral from another set of
missionaries. Mckenzie, her boyfriend Josh, and her daughter Mariah.
We had a really good lesson (where I mainly bore my testimony and had
no idea what was going on haha) and they were excited for us to come
back the next Wednesday! So we go back a week later and have a really
good lesson again, and they all say they want to be baptized but that
they needed a few months before they felt like they knew enough. Well
on Saturday we took all of them on a church tour, and Mckenzie brought
her other son, Dylan, and they loved it! Mckenzie said she'd never
felt this way about any other church and they all agreed to be
baptized on September fifth!! Even Dylan, who hardly knew anything
about the church. He just really felt the spirit :) All four of them
came to church yesterday and loved it too :) The Lord's hand is part
of every single day. I have sooo much to learn still, but it's
incredible how He can make my best efforts enough to get his work done
:)

Another one I'm really excited about is Antonio! He works a lot and is
hard to get a hold of, but we met with him last night finally and I'm
so glad we did! He is from a very different background, and would have
a lot of work to do, but he has such a sweet spirit and desire to do
what's right. He knows the bible so well and has such a strong love
for Jesus Christ. I've never heard a testimony with so many swear
words before, but the spirit was there so strongly. I know God loves
him a lot :)

Last Tuesday: 115 degrees. Ouch.

Last Thursday morning: it dropped down to 90 degrees. It felt really
good. #youknowyoureinphoenixwhen

This place is crazy but I love it a little more every day :)

Thanks to everybody that writes me, it honestly makes my day! I
promise I'm trying my best to respond when I can!

I love and miss you all! Have fun in your double digit weather :P

-elder Wheeler 

Hi family!!!

P day is on Monday so you'll be hearing from me then! I was allowed to
give you guys a quick update tho :)

My new address is:

8150 N 61st Ave Apt. 1079

First 2 days have been crazy! 2 new investigators, moved into a new
apartment, and figuring out the super cool missionary app on the
iPad!! I'll fill you in more on Monday :)

It was awesome to talk to y'all at the airport, sorry it wasn't for
very long! Just so ya know, I'm only allowed to send emails on p day,
but I can read them anytime, so feel free to vent to me about stuff
cuz I'll be a great listener ;P

Haha seriously tho, I love you guys so much :)

Peace ✌
-Elder Wheeler :)
Sent from my iPad

First Day in Arizona! 

July 24, 2015

HI EVERYBODY!! thanks so much for all the letters and emails :) :) :)

This week (felt like a month) has been so incredible!!! I've learned so much and made so many friends and eaten so much food and said so many prayers and studied so much scripture. I love the work we're doing here so much and I can't wait for 4 more days when I fly down to Arizona and get to start the real thing!!

Ok first thing: spikeball. My new favorite sport. SO much fun! It's like volleyball, but with a little trampoline and you play 2 on 2 and it is like the missionary national sport. Seriously, look it up. You'll thank me. haha

We have 4 investigators, all of which I have come to love so much. Rebekah, Stephen (the big one), Stephen (the small one), and Ny. Each of them are so different, but are so excited to hear what we have to teach them. (They're not real investigators, I think they're paid to do it) but it's such a real experience, and it gets me so excited!

Half of our zone left on tuesday and wednesday, and that was sad to see them go. We've all become such great friends, and I know they're gonna be incredible missionaries!!

I saw more missionaries from home!! Elder Wyatt Anderson, Elder Colton Winegar, Elder Dylan Travis, Elder Aaron Piscione, Elder Cody Robbins, and they are all so excited to be here! It makes me so happy to see my friends with such strong testimonies and so ready to do the lord's work :)

You all remember the story of the 2000 stripling warriors? There are 1997 missionaries as of tuesday. Cool :D

I don't have a lot of time left, so I'm gonna keep this one shorter than last week...sorry haha

Just a quick thought:

How firm a foundation, verse 7

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

I have felt my Savior's love and support so much this week. i couldn't have done everything on my own. 

It was so great to hear from all of you!! Until next week :) 

-Elder Wheeler :)

July 17th- First Email Home- MTC life

Hello everybody!!! :D

Oh my goodness I've only been here 2 days but it feels like 2 weeks! This place is so incredible and the spirit is so strong and the people are so nice and the food is so good and the gospel is so real! I've felt god's hand in so many ways since arriving and it all just helps me gain a stronger testimony that I'm doing what he wants :)

First minute at the MTC: I meet elder Barnett, my roommate from BYS last summer, and my "randomly" assigned escort. It was so awesome to talk to him and see the missionary he is becoming, and to know that the lord is looking out for me :)

My companion: Elder Olausson. Wow. He is such a spiritual beefcake (inside joke). We are very different people, but I think that makes us an even better companionship. He is so good at following the spirit and I know I'm gonna learn a lot from him! Also, he is REALLY good at being on time to everything...so I guess I know what I need to work on while I'm here :P

Other elders in my room: Elder Heller and Elder Miskovich. Both incredible missionaries and examples to follow. I really like Elder Heller, we have a lot to talk and laugh about, and it's a good thing too, because he is a grizzly bear. Literally. He snores. so. loud. I couldn't fall asleep the first night cuz I was laughing too hard. Haha he brought earplugs for all of us, which was awesome, except we all overslept our alarms the first morning and almost missed breakfast! Haha I only say that about him because I already love all my roommates like brothers and we share such an incredible spirit :)

The food: GREAT. Seriously, so good. and YOU CAN HAVE SECONDS AND THIRDS AND FOURTHS AND yeah :D

My district: incredible. I was so blessed to have an entire district completely focused on serving the lord. Last night, we had a district meeting where we met our branch presidency (I honestly couldn't ask for anyone better) and their wives (one of them has a really cool british accent) and then had a powerful testimony meeting! The spirit was so strong and I felt such a strong love for everybody there :) I have learned so much from everyone and we all continue to strengthen each other and I just know we're all gonna be FANTASTIC missionaries :D Which is great for me, because I was assigned to be District leader over these guys! I was so excited and so humbled to be asked, but I know this will help prepare me for the mission field :) Also I get to be in charge of picking up and distributing all of our mail, which is pretty much worth it's weight in gold here...haha!

Since being here: I've met so many incredible people! I've run into both SIster Tilby and SIster McCuen who I knew from home! It was fun to see them and see how they are progressing towards their missions :)

Side note: calling everybody "Elder" is really hard. Saying "guys" "man" "dude" "bro" "bruh" "broski" and nicknames are all discouraged here and I'm still getting used to that...haha but I'm working on it! "Exact obedience brings miracles" :)

I hope everybody is doing well! If you guys have had any cool testimony building experiences, or super embarassing date stories, or a good joke, or a bad joke, I'd love to hear them! I don't have a ton of time to email, but I'd love to hear from you guys! Haha I love and miss you all, but I know I'm doing the right thing :)

I love my savior, and even in the 2 days I've been here have felt his love so strongly for me too! I love the scriptures and the fact that I get to read them so much every day! I love the spirit and how much it has helped and guided me so far! I can't wait to be a representative of the savior and every day I'm here I get more excited to serve him for 2 years!! To quote my brother

The church is true

The book is blue

See ya in 2!

-Elder Wheeler :)

Dropping Nathan Off

We dropped Nathan off at the MTC on Weds. July 15th at 2:00 p.m. We took a minute before hand to take a few quick photos and then he was gone.







 

He didn't even look back. I must admit it was a very long drive home, but we are sure he is going to be a GREAT missionary!  

If you want to write him while he is in the MTC you can at 

 Elder Nathan Wheeler
JUL28 AZ-PHX
2005 N 900 E Unit 105
Provo UT 84602

or you can email him at nathan.wheeler@myldsmail.net or send a letter through dearelder.com (he said there is a little competition to see who can get the most letters through dearelder =) I know he would love to hear from you!