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 :)