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