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