Week 80: Grateful

December 1, 2014

Dearest family and friends,

Legend has it that 20 years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley stood in the Longfellow Park Chapel near Harvard Square and prophesied that one day, this mission would baptize 100 people in one month. People laughed.

I'm humbled and happy to report that as of last night, the Massachusetts Boston Mission did just that.

Can you believe the miracles the Lord has poured out on us this month?! Ammon says it best in Alma 26:

 11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

 13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?

 14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.

 15 Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work.

 16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

I truly cannot say the smallest part, but I will say some of the things I'm grateful for as I reflect on this month and on my mission:

I am so grateful that the Lord allowed me to be an instrument in His hands and to witness such incredible miracles this month and throughout my entire mission.

I am grateful for the lesson on the power of prayer and consecration the Lord taught me as we prayed and worked and sacrificed for our goal of 70 this month.

I am grateful for the way my mission has helped me to more clearly see my weaknesses and learn how to overcome them through the enabling power of the Atonement. The Lord has taken my weaknesses and made them strengths. Remember how PARALYZED I was to talk to people on the street when I first came out?!

I am grateful for the many people I LOVE who are now a part of my life. I cannot imagine my life without them! My leaders, my companions, the members, the people I've had the chance to teach and serve. If I had not come, I would not have had these experiences with them.

I am grateful for the experiences I've had that have taught me how the Spirit feels. How He prompts, directs, warns, comforts, teaches, enlightens, testifies of truth, and gives me words that are not my own.

I am grateful that the Lord has given me experiences to build my faith. I cannot believe He has been willing to use me because I am such a doubter and so afraid, but how can I doubt now after the many miracles I have seen?!

I am grateful for every opportunity I have had to witness conversion. The light that comes into people's faces and the Spirit in those kinds of lessons and experiences is life-changing.

I am grateful for the opportunities I've had to bear others' burdens with them. There is nothing more fulfilling than forgetting yourself and immersing yourself in the needs of others.

I am grateful for the increased knowledge and testimony of the gospel that I now have. I really had no idea what was going on as far as the gospel was concerned before I left! :) That's probably an exaggeration, but there is just no way I would have gained the same testimony without the chance to study and teach it to others and watch it change them.

I am grateful for how much closer I now feel to my Savior and to my Heavenly Father.

I cannot believe this is the end of my mission, but I am so excited to draw from these rich lessons and experiences as I tackle the next chapter of life. This truly is the Restored gospel and church of Jesus Christ. He lives! His Atonement is real and infinitely powerful to change and heal us and help us to become who our Heavenly Father intends us to become. They love us more than we know and see so much more in us than we do. Their Plan of Happiness is real and perfectly designed. How grateful I am for the privilege I've had to testify of these truths. My heart is full.

I love you all and am grateful for YOU! I needed each of you in this experience.

Much love,
Sister Wheeler Jr.

P.S. The attached video of Sister Watts' niece, Tessa, describes perfectly how I feel right now. :) Calm, happy, a little squirmy/nervous, and then...

Week 79: In the middle of a miracle

November 24, 2014

HELLO!

It's been another great week in Cromwell. :) And we've had some bizarre weather. It was 20-something degrees earlier this week and today it's 60 degrees and mist/raining. The East Coast is a crazy place. :)

We had a pretty successful week with teaching investigators and coordinating with the Elders. Ideally, we want to alternate lessons with them with our investigators and this week we were all able to teach the same people. YAY!

We'll start with Marlo! She is so cool. She came with her boyfriend's mom, who is a returning member, to our Halloween party and has interacted with us when we have visited her boyfriend's mom and has really liked us. She also came to the Primary Program last week with her boyfriend (we're not sure if he's a member or not) and really loved it. (P.S. In PEC on Sunday, Bishop Bell mentioned that another non-member who came to our Primary Program complained that the people in the ward were "too friendly" and thought the program was so-so. Is that not the craziest thing you've ever heard?! How can you not like the Primary Program? I submit that she must not have a soul. :) Bishop said that the "too friendly" complaint was okay with him- he wouldn't have it any other way. #cromwellward) So yes, we started teaching her and she's all for it. She came to church again this week with her boyfriend and his mom! And the Elders set a date with her for January 10th! SO cool!

Funniest thing Marlo said in our first lesson: She was talking about something and she paused in the middle of her sentence and said, "Wait... can I say 'freaking'?" It was so funny! :) It's nice that she has already had some influence from her boyfriend's mom and is already aware of some of the standards we live, but it's always funny when people get mixed up some of them. Fannie thought Mormons couldn't eat oregano. :)

We also had a chance to teach Barry Phelps, a wonderful investigator the Elders have been teaching. We took Sister Bell (she was the poor soul who came with us to the mental hospital appointment and I'm really grateful she got to be a part of a better experience!) and she added such perfect testimony- it really added to the peace and Spirit in the lesson. We taught the lesson by first discussing sacrifice (thanks for the idea, President Fairbank!), which also really brought the Spirit to the lesson. I feel like I've been wondering about why sacrifice is necessary for our salvation, and I realized (or re-realized) that the commandments God gives us that require us sacrifice are an opportunity for us to practice being more like Him. Opportunities to sacrifice help us to eliminate selfishness. Seen in that light, tithing feels like such a blessing. I loved that realization! Barry accepted everything well- he really is quite prepared! The coolest thing was that he invited his acquaintance, Nick, to sit in on the lesson. (Why are non-members so much less afraid to share the gospel?!) As we were leaving, Nick remarked that we were so "normal". :) I like it when we can leave a good impression. #imamormon

Unfortunately, Barry had a rough weekend and wasn't at church. :( The Elders had set a date with him for this coming weekend, but he's not going to make it. We're okay with it, though. We were thinking he needed more time to prepare anyway. But, please keep praying for him!

And speaking of "November to Remember", it has been an incredible month of miracles with the mission goal of 70 baptisms!! We are now at 63 baptisms and there are 60 people on date for this upcoming weekend! (Melissa Denton and Jackie Brindamour are two of them!!! And Edith from Providence was baptized yesterday! :) Makes me so happy! I LOVE PROVIDENCE!) I am so amazed and excited and grateful to be here at this time with so much energy and Spirit. I LOVE THE MBM!!! This has been such a wonderful lesson for me that when we seek revelation, sacrifice, and consecrate all of our thoughts and efforts to the Lord's work, He will shower us with blessings. Please continue to pray for our goal and for those we are teaching!

Thanksgiving is going to be wonderful! We've been invited to 2 non-members' homes and I'm excited we get to interact with them more. :) I'm not so excited to eat 3 Thanksgiving dinners, however. Yous (that's a Connecticut ghetto term) guys might be rolling me off the plane. :)

I love you all so very much! And I am so grateful to be here! Thank you for all you do to love and support me. Your testimonies build mine and your examples have helped me to be brave enough to serve. It has been so incredible!

Much love!
Sister Wheeler Jr.

P.S. As for the "Christmas Initiative" that Jord acted like was so secret is going to be a SWEET short video similar to "Because of Him". We're excited! We get to hand out special pass-alongs to promote it, etc. Check out christmas.mormon.org. The church bought a HUGE space in Times Square to promote it and they bought HUGE advertising space on YouTube as well. SO COOL!

P.P.S. Can I just tell you there's nothing less encouraging than finishing dinner with a member and then having them say (with ZERO enthusiasm), "Well... I guess we can move to the other room so you can share a message. I know you're supposed to do that." Makes me feel like they're REALLY excited to have us encourage and set goals with them to share the gospel. :)

P.P.P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO FIONA AND LINDY!!! STOP GROWING UP SO FAST!!! :)

Week 78: Play it again, Primary Program!

November 17, 2014

Dearest family and friends,

It's been a tough and great week! (Funny how missionary life can be such a roller coaster...)

We had a couple of wonderful lessons with Fannie. I just can't believe how strong and solid Maggie's (recent convert) testimony is- when we first got here, she seemed so young in her testimony and now she is just so solid! And she testifies so clearly and powerfully. It's awesome to watch her teach Fannie. And we brought a struggling/returning member to the lesson on Monday night and they all really benefited from each other. And then on Wednesday, we brought the incredible Sister Nowlin to our lesson and it was wonderful. But, it just seems like Fannie really wants to take her own time on finding her answer... and I kind of feel like she doesn't feel like there's much we can teach her. :/ BUT! She came to church! Mostly because Maggie's kids were in the Primary Program.

INTERRUPTION: Can we just talk about how much I love the Primary Program?! Why don't we do it EVERY week?! The Spirit was so powerful and I feel like all of the missionary lessons were taught so simply in less than an hour. It was so perfect for all the investigators and non-members there!

So yes, that's Fannie. And she's leaving town this week. :( And Yana, the Russian investigator who we LOVE, just got moved to a new place for work, so we're transferring her to the missionaries there. I'm so sad we won't get to keep teaching her, but I'm happy I get to keep in touch with her. #gratefulfortechnology

Speaking of gratitude, I feel like I learned some important lessons on that this week. I've been in the beginning of the Book of Mormon looking for tender mercies and MAN, Nephi is so good at that! He is so good at teaching us to REMEMBER all the miracles the Lord has done for our ancestors and for us. As I've been reflecting more on my mission and taking the time to remember the many miracles the Lord has let me be a small part of on my mission, I have been overwhelmed. I have a testimony of the incredible Spirit that comes into our lives when we live in a spirit of gratitude and always remember what the Lord has done for us. It is so healing and purifying and peaceful. There is no better way to live!

Update on our mission's 70 baptisms goal: Going splendidly! The mission baptized 19 people yesterday, so we're at 39 baptisms for the month! AMAZING. The Elders in Cromwell set a baptismal date with Barry Phelps for Nov. 29th, so we're all excited about that! We share the same teaching pool (but we haven't taught Barry yet), so their success is ours, but my pride makes me feel like WE should be setting a date with someone, too. I'm happy to play whatever role the Lord needs me to play, though. And I'm so grateful to be here this last month full of energy and miracles!

So with two of our main investigators moving, the Sisters of Cromwell are back to the drawing board! But, hopefully we'll be teaching Barry more, as well as Nikki and her son Alex (two more people the Elders started teaching and set a baptismal date with). We've actually got some really cool potentials that we'll be working more on this week. Pray for Marlo Thomas and Jenny!

Oh, and we met THE coolest family! Some members from our ward just moved out and before they moved, they met the Hopkins family and shared a Book of Mormon with them and the Hopkins are TOTALLY searching. We stopped by to invite them to the Primary Program and they were very appreciative and very interested! They should be coming to church in a few weeks! SO EXCITED! And the Oeser family is SO COOL for finding and teaching them! MEMBERS MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!!

Oh! And Zahra brought a friend to church. SO COOL!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love,

Sister Wheeler Jr.

P.S. LAURANA! I am so proud of you!!!!!!
P.P.S. Mom, I am dying laughing at how obsessed you are with cleaning missionary apartments. :)

Week 77: And now it gets tougher...

November 10, 2014

Dearest family and friends,

It's been a great week! The energy in the mission with the goal of 70 baptisms has been WONDERFUL, but I think we're starting to get to the tough part of this goal. I think we were all on a bit of a spiritual high after the mission conference, but now we're being tested. I think half of the baptisms we were supposed to have this last weekend dropped, so we've really got to do everything we can!

We still don't have any baptismal dates for November here in Cromwell, but there has been some exciting progress!

- Our eternigator (eternal + investigator) Shari finally had us (the Sisters) over for dinner. She's been acting scared of us this entire past transfer, but she warmed up to us this week and we think she likes us. :) We love her! Her son and daughter got baptized last December and are AWESOME, but she's been dragging her feet for some reason, even though she comes to church every week. The funniest part was when we pulled up Elder Holland's video "Lord, I Believe" and Shari wandered out of the room like she usually does when the missionaries start the spiritual thought. Her daughter paused the video and her son threw back his head and yelled, "MOM! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LET ME BAPTIZE YOU?!" and she responded from the other room, "Yesterday!" :) She's got some attitude, but we adore her and are excited to help her progress in any way we can. We took her daughter out to a lesson the next day to a member who's in the hospital and before we even left, Shari asked if she could bring dinner to the family that night. Shari LOVES to serve and is already such a wonderful disciple of Christ. We've just got to figure out what's holding her back and help her take the next step! :) She DID ask the Elders to teach her the first lesson again this week and asked for a Priesthood blessing to stop smoking and they felt like that was some serious progress, so we're excited! :)

- We have a new investigator from RUSSIA! Her name is Yana (or Yanina) and we met her when we delivered a HUGE Bible to her client, Virginia. Virginia is 85 and homebound and Yana takes care of her full time. Yana knew about our church because she investigated for a year when she lived in Oregon! She really liked it, but it seems like she never understood Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon because she never had one in Russian- so we fixed that this week! Thankfully, the Elders had a Russian Book of Mormon, so we took to her and had a good discussion with her and are going back this week. We LOVE her so much already! And I want so much for her to understand what he have to teach because her daughter passed away 8 months ago. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation!

- We only got to meet with Fannie once last week, but it was a good lesson. I think we can understand a bit more where she's coming from. She feels like she's at a gridlock with understanding if authority is necessary for baptism and if she really believes her infant Catholic baptism didn't have authority. I think we need to help her STUDY the Book of Mormon and gain a testimony of it by finding answers in it. She reads it and understands it just fine, but I believe in President Christensen's advice to really help them study with a question and written homework. We'll see if that helps! And Fannie didn't come to church again, so that's not really helping! :( But, Maggie says not to give up or be discouraged. Maggie has been an AMAZING influence and help. It is so cool to see a very recent convert turn around and be so uplifted by teaching her friend! :)

Alright, I'm afraid this is turning into a HUGE email. But, things are going so well. I love serving here and Sister Watts keeps me in constant stitches. :) And I am so grateful for this time I have to serve and deepen my testimony of the gospel as I help others learn about their Savior. There really is no such thing as sacrifice in this work because our Heavenly Father always showers us with blessings. I'm getting way more out of this deal than is fair.

I love you all so much! Please keep praying for our 70 baptisms goal and our investigators!

Much love,
Sister Wheeler

Week 76: A November to Remember

November 3, 2014

Dearest family and friends,

It's been a WONDERFUL week! Miracles are just pouring out over the MBM (that's Massachusetts Boston Mission in non-acronym). :) We had an incredible mission conference on Friday with Elder Larry Lawrence of the Seventy and it was exactly what I needed.

Sister Lawrence spoke first and taught us the doctrine of the gathering of Israel which I don't know why I didn't really understand before, but it was AWESOME. After lunch, President and Sister Packard got up and spoke with the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders and presented our mission goal for November.

Now, you should know that President Packard is not a numbers kind of mission president. We've never been given "standards of excellence" or quotas we have to meet and I love it. It takes a lot of stress away and helps us be more unified across the mission because let's be honest, this is a huge and diverse mission and what happens in one area is not necessarily what can happen in another area. President has left the burden of seeking that revelation for what needs to happen area by area to us in our individual areas. But, a few months ago when I was serving as a Sister Training Leader, we talked in MLC about setting a mission goal for the number of baptisms we wanted to see happen. President had been feeling for a long time like the mission is running way below it's capacity. So, we set an ambitious goal of 70 baptisms. There were 95 people who had dates for that month. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, and I was a little bummed about it. I sort of don't have the greatest testimony of goal-setting and it's probably because I'm severely lacking in faith. I should probably fix that before I end my mission. :)

So back to the November mission goal. President recently went to a mission president's conference with Elder Holland #jealous. They met for 4 days and got to visit the Sacred Grove together. Incredible. Elder Holland at one point asked, "Presidents, what do you dare promise your missionaries?" and he left an apostolic blessing on them that what they promised their missionaries would happen. President and Sister Packard returned from the conference and after seeking revelation felt strongly that this was the month we could hit 70 (we have 110 people on date for November). They felt that that was what the Lord wanted for us. Sister Hobbs is serving as a Sister Training Leader in Providence right now and she bore her testimony that she knows we can do this and she knows that this goal is the Lord's will and that we can do all things through Him. It was so powerful! And we are all so excited about it. President has asked us to do a few things to show the Lord our earnestness, including sacrificing something as well as asking all of our members to pray with us that we can accomplish this goal. (PLEASE PRAY THAT WE CAN REACH OUR GOAL!)

The miracles that have already happened are just incredible. For example, Sister White and Sister Gropp in our zone had no one on date, but they told their investigator Bob about our mission goal of 70 baptisms and he now wants to get baptized this coming Sunday. OUTRAGEOUS! And the digital mission had a baptism on Sunday... of someone they've been Skype teaching that lives in UGANDA!!! It's just so exciting!

I feel like we could see similar miracles here in Cromwell, even though we have no one on date for November. (Well, we've got Herbert on date, but it's not looking too promising.) And my little missionary heart wants so much for a baptism to happen in Cromwell in November. I am willing to give up anything! But I'm not sure if I have enough faith. I'm a bit of a doubter. :/ And I don't lack faith in the Lord- I know He can accomplish His purposes with or without me. I think I just lack faith in my ability to do what He needs me to do or in my ability to recognize His will. But like I said, I am willing to do anything to help it happen! We will do our best this week and see what happens!

Elder Lawrence gave some great counsel on exercising faith. I took awesome notes on it, but for the sake of time, that's all I'm gonna write. But it was awesome!!

We did experience a miracle this week when we started teaching Fannie! She is the friend of Maggie, a recent convert, and she is amazing! She took the discussions 40 years ago and only stopped because she was called into active duty in the Vietnam War. And We've taught her the first two lessons and she accepts EVERYTHING (believes the Book of Mormon is true, believes Joseph Smith was a prophet, she TOTALLY gets personal revelation and has mastered it) and she started a stop-smoking program. We're a little stumped as to what could be holding her back from baptism (we invited her but she gave us a "not yet"), but she's awesome. And I really feel like she could be baptized this month! We will see! She's only visiting Maggie until Thanksgiving. In any case, she wants to continue meeting with missionaries when she gets to Florida and I feel strongly that she will accept the gospel now or later and that is what matters most. :) Please pray for Fannie!

I'm sorry this email is so incredibly long! There is so much more I want to write, but I'm going to leave it at that!

I hope you all know how much I love you! And that I know that this truly is the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We are children of a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of us and wants more than anything for us to be happy and to return to live with Him. Our Savior has made that possible through His Infinite Atonement. The Book of Mormon is true and it is another testament of Him. I am so grateful for it! And I am so grateful for the prophet Joseph Smith who sacrificed so much that we may have restored all things necessary to return home to our Heavenly Father.

Much love!
Sister Wheeler Jr.

P.S. This week also included the most disturbing lesson of my mission where we realized too late that we were teaching someone in a mental hospital. A story with which to regale you all in the future. Nuf said. :)

Week 75: When life gives you lemons, just start laughing

October 27, 2014

Dearest family and friends,

The title of this email is probably one of the most valuable lessons Sister Watts has taught me. :)

Case in point: Monday night, we went to a member's home to help with Family Home Evening, which was great. The only problem was when we came back outside, Narwal the Brave was nowhere to be found. That has got to be one of the most disorienting feelings! We couldn't figure out if we had forgotten where we'd parked or something, but we finally realized that Narwal had either been towed or stolen. Thankfully, he was towed. (I mean, if he'd been stolen, I would've lost a roll of film I'd already shot!) We figured out where he was and the poor Elders had to come pick us up and take us there. (We're really hoping a car problem doesn't become the norm at the start of each transfer, seeing as we locked ourselves out of our car and apartment at the beginning of last transfer!) While we waited for the Elders to get there, Sister Watts just laughed her head off while we both murmured about the complete injustice of the situation (we have parked in that spot before and there is NO signage to indicate "No Parking"), and then we decided to fight Satan back for trying to ruin our night and instead talk to a guy who was walking in the neighborhood. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon! And then, when we finally got to the tow yard (after we had to stop at Walgreens and withdraw cash by buying candy and withdrawing only $20 at a time), we were civil to the tow guys and gave them a pass-along card. So we made the best of the situation and decided to see it as an opportunity to contact people we otherwise would not have. :)

And then on Tuesday, we had a total miracle! We were stressing because all of our afternoon appointments cancelled last minute, but while we were looking for a less-active member as our back-up plan, we met Janice Hughes. She actually knew the member we were looking for and was able to give us her new address. But Janice has to be the most prepared person I've ever met! And I feel so guilty because I had just been murmuring about how all we could find to teach were crazy people. She asked us if we could schedule a time to do a Bible study with her and she talked to us about some of the questions and concerns she has with religion, all of which are answered perfectly by the Restoration. I was floored. We explained a bit about the Restoration and what we teach as missionaries and scheduled an appointment to come back and Bible study with her. She even asked us for homework! And here's the kicker that will illustrate how awesome the Cromwell Ward is: she received a Priesthood blessing 3 years ago from a couple of men from the ward when the were visiting the less-active we were looking for. Just amazing. There are NO coincidences. And I now know why all our appointments fell through that day.

I just LOVE how the ward includes us and how focused they are on missionary work. On Wednesday night, we were able to teach the Young Women, at their request, how to answer questions they get from their friends and classmates. It was so fun! And they were such good sports about practicing and roleplaying. They told us we were being too nice when we were roleplaying as their friends, so we let the other young women pretend to be friends from school and they were hysterical! And they were tough on each other! It was too funny. These Young Women just amaze me with their courage and how well they respond to the many opportunities they have to share the gospel with those around them.

And ward council on Sunday was just incredible. The ward had a wonderful Harvest Party on Saturday and they spent the majority of ward council identifying the non-members and less-active members who were there, a task which would have been pretty tough for us as missionaries on our own. I just feel like this ward works hand-in-hand with us. It is amazing to serve here!

Sorry this email got so long! But I love you all and am so grateful to be here. There is nothing like serving others and having the chance to testify of Christ as full-time missionary. I love it! 

I'll end with a scripture that struck me this week. A lot of people have been mentioning the sad/scary things happening in the world right now, but as I read this verse from Moroni to his son Mormon, I felt like it applied so perfectly:

Moroni 9:25: My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.

I know that as we always remember our Savior, we will be blessed with peace, despite what happens around us. I know He lives and that He loves us and that His Atonement makes everything possible for us. Immortality, eternal life, healing and peace, happiness, forgiveness, continual progression, and eternal families. I am so grateful!

Much love,

Sister Wheeler Jr.

Week 74: Indian Summer

October 20, 2014

Hello family! (AND FRIENDS!) :)

I'm a bit out of time this week, but here is my short and bulleted report!

-It's been 75 degrees all week. So strange! New England is a funny place.
-We had the chance to watch a screening copy of Meet the Mormons with a bunch of other missionaries last week. I LOVED it! And so many of our ward members went and took their friends with to see it in the local movie theater. Our ward is so good at reaching out and sharing!

-Like Jord, we've been working on talking to more people that we meet as we go from appointment to appointment and this week we had some wonderful experiences doing so. We were able to get email addresses of a guy named Justin and his friend Conner and Justin responded really well to the "Because of Him" video we sent and now wants a Book of Mormon. So cool! Another wonderful experience talking to people was when we met Ty on Wesleyan campus. Sister Watts taught a powerful short version of the Restoration and I was just basking in the Spirit as I watched her testify. It was amazing!

-Two of our current investigators are Perry and Herbert. Perry is kind of pessimistic and has been attending the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Elders haven't felt like he's made much progress, but when we met with him this week, we invited him to be baptized and explained that we want him to be a part of the ward family and it was EXACTLY what he wanted to hear. He wants to be more involved and he wants to act. It was so cool to see how making the right invitation (even if it seems a little bold/scary) can be just what people need to progress. Herbert we met when we were looking for a less-active. He lost his wife a few years ago and has basically lived in a state of misery since then. I don't think he really cares if he lives or dies. :( It's pretty heartbreaking, but I'm grateful we get to share with him and testify of the Plan of Salvation! He should be coming to the church for a church tour next week.

-I've been stressing out about making the very most of my last transfer, but I had some moments of clarity the last couple days. I feel like I'm relying on my own abilities and that I'm not giving up any control to the Lord. I'm just trying to do everything I can to make miracles happen, but I'm not realizing that all I have to do is be obedient and do my best and then the rest is in the Lord's hands. I cannot control everything. (My mission has taught me what a control freak I am...) :) And if miracles cease, it is because I am not exercising faith. (Moroni 7:35-38ish) So, I just need to do my best, be obedient, work hard, and trust that the Lord will accomplish His purposes in His time. And I just need to enjoy it! That was pretty much President Packard's only request for me at our last interview- that I would just let go and ENJOY my mission. Working on it! Who knew that could be so hard?! I'm getting all tense and feeling like I need to control/do it all perfectly. But it's all about receiving and acting of revelation! If I do my best and am obedient and have the faith to trust the Lord, it will all turn out how it should.

Another scripture I've found in the Book of Mormon that I KNOW is true:

Jacob 4:13
 13 Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old.
I know that God has given us the Spirit AND living prophets to guide us and help us to know ABSOLUTE truth. I am so grateful!

And lastly, hysterical things that happened:

-Everything. Sister Watts just never ceases to be funny. :)

-Last night, we came home with our car full of random things. A random man gave us venison when we knocked on his door, someone else gave us a bunch of old grandma clothes and they also gave us stew and soap. It cracked us up. :)

-Some young college boys saw us getting out of the car one night and, thinking we were cute young college party girls, were like, "Where's the party at?!" and then they realized we were missionaries as Sister Watts was like, "At the church!" It was hysterical. We DID invite them to the upcoming ward Halloween party, got their emails, and sent them awesome church videos. #win

Praying for Victor! And Laurana, you will ROCK the ACT and Miss Hillcrest! That's just how Wheelers do things. :)

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Wheeler Jr.

Attached, for your enjoyment, is a hysterical picture that illustrates how much Sister Watts and I adore each other. :)