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. :)

Week 73: Tender Mercies

October 14, 2014

Dearest family and friends,

It's been a week of miracles in Cromwell! (What's new?) Since we've been looking for tender mercies as we've been reading the Book of Mormon, I feel like it's become so much more natural to notice them in my life. I love it!

One of my favorites was meeting Abdel this week. We met him in the park as he was pushing his napping daughter in a stroller. It turns out he is from Morocco, so he speaks French and I was able to communicate with him and set up a return appointment for the next morning. He is a semi-active Muslim, but he said he likes to look for truth everywhere. The lesson we had was just amazing. I feel like we left the world for an hour and had an incredibly important conversation with him. He speaks English well, so Sister Watts was able to teach with me, but she said that through the whole lesson, even when she couldn't understand some of what was being said, the Spirit was so powerful and strong. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon and I am praying we will get to meet with him again. Even if we don't, it was a huge blessing to be able to meet with him and it has built my testimony so much.

Tender mercies include: meeting him, being able to communicate in my broken and poorly conjugated French, Nat sending me a French "Preach My Gospel" and a French dictionary so I could study for Adrien when I was in Amherst, and Nat sending a French Book of Mormon that we were able to give Abdel, learning that his English teacher in Morocco was Mormon and now lives in Utah.

Another tender mercy happened when we were on a walk with one of our recent converts who is really struggling. Sister Watts was way ahead of me with the member, so I was a little on my own (don't worry, still sight and sound, people! :)), and as I looked out into the beautiful woods, I pondered and imagined how our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, appeared to a young boy less than 200 years ago in very similar New England woods. And the Spirit bore witness to me that it was true. That it really happened. It was such a blessing to feel such a powerful and sweet Spirit. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. And I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth through him. I am so grateful for that knowledge and testimony. And I pray that the Spirit can use my poorly typed words to convey the depth and the power of this testimony I am building. What an incredible evidence of our Heavenly Father's love that He not only gave His Only Begotten Son for us, but that They have called prophets again and through them have given us everything we need to return home to Them. No words are sufficient, but I am so grateful.

Other tender mercies include:

-Being able to teach a great Family Home Evening to a part-member family. The Spirit was strong and we were so grateful to spend time with them.

-Finding out that a struggling YSA who we visited has taken the challenge of making tender mercies and scriptures she knows are truth (Elder Andersen) after we talked to her last week.

-The problem we often have in Cromwell where you prepare a lesson for a member family about member missionary work, and then their non-member friend comes to dinner unexpectedly. :)

-Being able to go to the temple yesterday. I was able to get some wonderful feelings of peace and reassurance there. There is nothing on this earth to match the peace in the temple.

I need advice, family and friends. We have wanted to invite families in our ward to prayerfully set a date by which it find someone to be taught in their home and we tried with one family. They were very willing to do so, but they have tried before and have never had it work, so they felt pretty down about it. How can I help raise their faith?! I feel like I'm still trying to build my testimony of this principle, but prophets and apostles have promised us that it will work. (see  Elder Ballard's talk in 1984) I want to make this a pattern of faith that I follow for the rest of my life! Has anyone else tried it? What are your thoughts and advice?

I love you all so very much and am so grateful for all you do for me! This gospel is true! :)
Much love,
Sister Wheeler

Week 72: CONFERENCE!

October 6, 2014

Dearest family and friends,

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIANDRA! I hope you have an AWESOME birthday this week and that you enjoy hanging out in BOSTON! I am jealous! You will love it!

Big news! Remember Alex? He's the Cape Verdian kid that Sister Patterson and I miraculously ran into in Amherst and started teaching. His mom has recently been in on the lessons and has been very supportive and now Alex is getting baptized at the end of this month! I am so excited! He is such an honest seeker of truth and he is so sincere and loves his family so much! I can't wait for them to one day have the same happiness I have in knowing that they have been sealed together for eternity!

We had another missionary birthday here in Cromwell. I redeemed myself. :) Actually, it was a team effort. Sister Watts and I made Elder Terry the best breakfast ever and this time, we made sure we had oil for the pans! (And thankfully Ruth, after we helped clean her garage last week, gave us better pans and some cool ceramic serving dishes so we could actually make a presentable breakfast!) The best part was when we were walking into the front door of the Elders apartment complex and Sister Watts tripped over the doorway and almost biffed it with the ceramic dish full of the breakfast. We were laughing so hard when we knocked on the Elders door to sing Happy Birthday. Pretty sure they think we're always laughing maniacally... It might be true. :)

I think one of the greatest lessons I learned this week came from a visit we made with our Relief Society President, Sister Spencer. We went to visit a less-active woman who just moved in and who is really struggling. She spent most of the visit talking about all of the terrible things that have happened to her in her life (and they were some DIFFICULT things). Sister Spencer listened patiently and compassionately and at the end, suggested a few things for the woman, including a Priesthood blessing, which she was happy to accept. It's always just magic when you take a member to a lesson. Seriously. Most of the time, I just feel like the facilitator. :) But on the drive back, Sister Spencer talked about how she herself had experienced every. single. one. of the things that less-active woman had experienced. And she said, "But what's the difference in us? While she has turned from God asking, 'Why me?!', I have turned to God and said, 'Teach me.'" It was powerful. And I felt like such a spiritual infant next to my sister who has gone through so much and has grown so gloriously.

And Conference... SO GOOD! If you didn't get to listen, CATCH UP! I received so many answers to questions and prayers and feel so uplifted and ready to change and progress! I think one of my favorite talks was when Elder Andersen challenged the youth to strenghten their testimonies of Joseph Smith by marking scriptures in the Book of Mormon that they knew were true. I tried it out Sunday morning and was so uplifted! A couple verses I feel strongly about are:

2 Nephi 2:27
"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."

Mosiah 2:41
"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

I saw both of those in action this week. Everything God commands us to do is for our benefit and HAPPINESS! Satan wants us to disobey so that we become miserable like himself. He tempts us to do so by turning away from God, forgetting to do the small and simple things that build our relationship with Him, getting caught up in addictions and habits that limit our ability to choose. He works really hard! Which is why we must work even harder to continually strengthen our relationship with our Savior by obeying His commandments. All He and our Heavenly Father want is for us to be happy! And they have given us everything that is expedient.

Our Savior lives! This is His church and gospel that was restored through a true prophet and continues to be led by a living prophet. And in it we find the greatest the peace as we access his Atonement through restored Priesthood power. How grateful I am!

Love you all!
Love,
Sister Wheeler Jr.

Pictures:

Elder Terry is so happy with his amazing breakfast!

And Jord, that tree beats any Canadian trees, just sayin'! :)

Week 71: Happy Birthday to Sister Watts!

September 29, 2014

Dearest family and friends,

It's been another hysterical and spiritually uplifting week. Dad asked if it's illegal to have this much fun on a mission. It might be... it just might be... :)

I'm actually sending you my original email. I will be sending a watered-down version to everyone else, just so they don't think I'm totally goofing off! :)

Hysterical stories first:

It was Sister Watts' birthday on Saturday and I happened to wake up an hour early, so I quickly made her a card and attempted to make her a pancake. The only problem is we didn't have any butter or vegetable oil or pan spray, so I had nothing to grease the pan with... and we didn't actually have a griddle or pan, just a saucepan. So I tried the first one... and it burned directly onto the pan. So I grabbed our second saucepan and thought I could try using honey to grease the pan. The result was a caramelized pan and lumpy/strange pancake. I put a candle in it, brought it to Sister Watts while I sang "Happy Birthday" and then immediately said, "Don't eat that pancake." We had a good laugh about it. :)

We spent the morning and afternoon of Sister Watts' birthday helping a non-member, Ruth, clear out her dad's house and get it ready for a tag sale (that's right- in New England it's not a "yard sale" or "garage sale"). Hysterical parts of the afternoon involved Sister Watts and I trying to pick out a random gift for Elder Terry's birthday next week and Sister Watts kicking me in the kidneys "accidentally". But on a spiritual note, we LOVED interacting with Ruth. She is friends with about half a dozen members in the ward and I think all of them are waiting for someone else to invite Ruth to learn more. (#diffusionofresponsibility) She invited us for dinner, so I think things will continue to progress with her. She's the sweetest! She actually reminded me a lot of Mom.

Speaking of Mom, remember how she always chops you across the jugular when you're driving with her and you make a snarky comment? I've been doing that with Sister Watts and on Saturday, somehow I missed and basically punched her in the face. We laughed till we cried! We were both so shocked and I felt terrible that I'd punched her on her birthday. I guess it's payback for her earlier kidney kick.

One last funny and then I promise I'll get spiritual: Sister Watts loves to sleep in onesies, so this morning we thought we'd prank the Elders, so we put onesies on over our dresses and when we picked them up to go email, their faces were priceless. They stopped dead in their tracks and Elder Paiva actually didn't recognize us. I think we thought it was funnier than they did- we laughed till we cried (again!). I actually felt a little like puking I was laughing so hard.

So yes, Dad... I think it might be illegal to have this much fun. :)

Waxing spiritual:

Victor, I love that you mentioned "Going About Doing Good". Sister Watts and I were actually asked to train our district on that part of Preach My Gospel this Friday. Sister Watts didn't want to sit around and talk about it for half an hour, so we decided to briefly discuss the principle and then we told everyone, "Alright, you have 20 minutes! Go out and find someone to serve!" and we ran out of the room. It was epic. :) And successful! I felt like my eyes were opened to thinking more like the Savior would think. I felt like I suddenly had a radar for who was in need of help or assistance. That is exactly how He lived. He didn't get caught up on running to and from appointments- He was always keenly aware of who needed help along his way. One set of missionaries came back and had actually gotten a phone number of a woman who said they could come back the next day to rake her yard. Success! :)

We had another baptism this weekend! Zahra, our cute Iranian investigator, was baptized by her brother Nick. She has the deepest testimony of Jesus Christ- you can just feel it. And the strongest desire to follow Him. She has been waiting since the 1990s to be able to come to the U.S. and be baptized. That is my whole lifetime. It was so humbling to realize that. And to realize how dangerous it is for others to be Christians in other countries. It made me stop and consider my own conversion: would I risk my life to follow Jesus Christ? Zahra wore a beautiful white head wrap with her jumpsuit for modesty and she looked celestial. After she was baptized, we helped her into the dressing room and she kissed our hands and then looked up to heaven and offered a prayer of gratitude. So humbling for me. The most powerful part was when our wonderful Relief Society President got up to welcome Zahra to the Relief Society. She was so overcome with the Spirit that she got down on her knees in front of Zahra, took Zahra's hands, and could only say,"You are my sister." It was powerful and it was all she needed to say. The Spirit taught us the rest.

And the Women's Conference right after the baptism!!! Am I just a missionary or was that meeting incredibly spiritual?! I was so overwhelmed by the Spirit in that meeting and I don't have words to express how I felt. It was supernal (as all those General Authorities like to say). If you didn't get a chance to watch it, WATCH IT! I felt my testimony of our Savior deepen. I know He lives. He knows us perfectly and through Him, we truly can become our real and happiest selves. We can reach our Heavenly Father's potential for us. How grateful I am for His infinite, atoning sacrifice that makes it possible and how grateful I am for His restored gospel that enables us to access the strengthening power of His Atonement through sacred covenants and temple ordinances. We are so blessed!

Love you all so very much! Thank you for your continued love and support! Have a beautiful week!

Love,
Sister Wheeler Jr.