The Dog Days of Summer

Everything went awesome this week. I started living by, "What if you only had 5 days left on your mission?" By so doing, it gave me the extra motivation to listen to the Holy Ghost and to do the Lord's will-- not mine.

It's still hot and humid down here and I understand what they mean by, "the dog days of summer." They just keep going and going like the Energizer Bunny.

But Saturday we were contacting some potentials in another city when again, as it did 6 days earlier in the same city, the Sprit told us to go walking. But it was hot. Both my companion and I were agitated because we just got rejected, harshly, he was tired (as always haha) and did I say it was hot and humid?! (btw it was hilarious-- my companion fell asleep in a lesson the other day and the lady noticed and said, "You fallin asleep on us, Joe?" ...No answer! Haha. He was out!)



Yea, Baby!

Anyway, we were led to this house with a bunch of kids and we started talkin with them when the mom came out on her porch and just stared at us. But we were able to meet with her for a few minutes. It was an awkward meeting because I yelled at her from the street asking if we could come up and talk with her and when we did I was looking into the sun, sweat was pouring down my face, and the kids were trying to talk to me while I was trying to talk with her. But the Spirit was there and she said we could come back. We are going to see them tonight.

Also, we met with George for the first time and he said he wants to come to church next week. It's freaky how much he reminds me of Jonny.

Gracie and Matt committed to coming to church next week. After they said we'll "try," I put a pen on the ground next to Gracie and said, "Try to pick up the pen." She picked it up but I said, "No! I didn't say to pick it up. I said 'try' to pick up the pen." She realized what I was getting to and promised to come to church next week.

And the third thing that happened.... Erica committed to a baptismal date! The 8th of September.

Just an awesome week. Long, hot, and humidy. But awesome.

Oh... and we're going on bikes this week :/



-Elder Wheatley

"This work is nothing without the Lord. NOTHING!"

Hi Momma!

Overwhelmed with amazement this week in Lonoke, Arkansas. The first couple weeks I was here I thought the future of this place was so bleak. I wanted to be the lucky participant of the next emergency transfer. haha. But now... I would pummel the elder that caused me to leave this wonderfully fruitful area via emergency transfer because he couldn't control himself. Truly though, I know I'm supposed to be here.

So much has happened this week that is just so incredible, I'm having a hard time believing that it's happening here. Due to time constraints I can only give you one snippet. Yesterday, since we had saved up some miles on the car, we took our journey to Carlisle, a city not more than 8 miles out of town, to check up on some less-actives on our way to De Valls Bluff, maybe 15 miles further down the road. The GPS took us from house to house with no apparent successes as we faced repeated rejection while the doors monotonously shut in our faces.

It came to my attention that we were just going through the motions and that this mindless work would not produce any results if we continued in our humdrum ways. I also realized that in my "just doing it to do it" mind set, I had left the most important key to our success out of the picture! The Lord! I had neglected to ask Him what He wanted me to do.

Humbled, I muttered a silent prayer.

The answer hit me like lightening and electrified my soul, "We need to go Spiritual Harvesting."

Together we prayed for direction. The consequence was sweet. As we walked we past one of those apartments that you have to walk inside a door and then choose whether to go upstairs or down, a prompting came so strong that I could not shrug the feeling, "Bottom right. Bottom right."

Turns out that we met this Lady, Devin. We left a very powerful blessing on her home and when we asked if we could come back, she said, "Tomorrow."

It was such a humbling experience. My testimony is that this work is nothing without the Lord. Nothing.

Wish I could have had more time to write. I'll try better next week.

Love to all.

-Elder Wheatley

Elders Wheatley and Kowalk

The Spiritual "Mack Truck"

Hi Momma!

Things are picking up here in Lonoke. We've been keeping ourselves busy which I never thought would be possible down here ;)

I'm eating healthy and I am very happy.

We have been teaching quite a few people. I don't know how many are serious, but I recall my last area, Conway, where the Elders before me were teaching, "Shady Eric," that is, if he was ever there when their scheduled appointment was. But I'm so grateful for the Elders that never gave up, and I was able to see Eric baptized. Seeing that is what keeps me motivated to work with everyone-- even though they can be the shadiest people in the world. It all works out in the end if we endure.

The members here are amazing! They go out of their way to help us all the time. We don't get fed very much but they sure do their best at getting rides for us to meetings and appointments.

No, there hasn't been too much rain-- just enough to make it miserably humid. It's not too bad this week because we have a car. We get all our walking out of us between the hours of ten and twelve to avoid the real heat of the day. But even at 10 am when you open the front door the heat and humidity hits you like a Mack truck. We keep the apt at 77 degrees and that's cold to me know. It's funny to see your glasses fog up when you step out of your house or car. That shouldn't happen! ha ha.

The work has just been great. We will be getting a large print Book of Mormons for one of our investigators and I know that, even though he's not interested in changing churches, as he reads the Book of Mormon that he will be the one on the receiving end of the Mack truck-- the Spiritual Mack truck. We're good friends as well as his son and his mother who all live in the same house. Fyi: he wants to buy my bike from me at the end of my mission if I don't decide to ship it back. He wants to start riding with his son. I laughed because that is still over a year away.

I'm just happy.

Boy, from the way I've felt since I have gotten here, it just makes it that much better.

I was praying so hard and He answered. Always does. I'm thankful for downs. It helps me appreciate more. Besides, what fun would this roller coaster be if it was always up?

Love to all y'all

Elder Wheatley

D&C 50

Hey Momma!

This past week was great-- a lot better than last week, I was kind of down in the dumps. Our focus was on logistics and making sure that we build trust with the members, mainly showing them that this companionship is not lazy. As we have done this we have been able to see the bud of our work start to open up and blossom. We hope to continue that trend this week. The members have been fantastic in supporting us even though many of them have either little money or time or both. They surely will be blessed for all their work for us.

Elders Cassler and Wheatley...being silly as usual.  8-4-13

One story about this week: We had the opportunity to teach a returning member's friend in the Branch President's home on Thursday. It was a wonderful opportunity to teach an actual lesson. haha. Really though, it was a very spirit-filled lesson. Even though she was super shy and couldn't even look us in the eyes she was prepared and was very receptive to the message. She came to church and wants another lesson. Elder Staib, from Jacksonville, and I will be going up tomorrow night because we will be on exchanges.

Talking about prophets and apostasy, I compared prophets to a manager in a business. If there was no manager the workers could work for a while but things would eventually get chaotic and some workers would begin to think that they were in control and make up rules for the rest of the employees. Kind of silly, I know, but that is what came to me, through the Holy Ghost I'm sure, and she understood. I'm excited for our next visit. After the lesson we had cake and ice cream and we were able to talk with her about things pertaining to her life, and then, she got talkative. haha. I think that helped break the ice and our next visit should be just as great if not better.

My companion is doing great. We both hit a little slump but we both bounced right out of it. He is a very learned missionary and will do very well in his next two years. I'm glad I have the opportunity to serve with him.

When I was down I read about the Atonement. That really seemed to help. I am thankful every time the Mission President has called me to repentance (he does that a lot-- to everyone) because it causes me to take a step back and reflect on my actions, where I am at and where I can improve.

I'm expecting this week to be amazing. We get our car back and that will give us the opportunity to see people "way the heck out there." Part of our area is, seriously, and hour and a half away! That's freakin Provo to Brigham City! And the worst part, we got a referral for someone out there. haha. How in sam hill are we supposed to contact this person. haha. The Lord will provide.

Elders Cassler from Orem and Elder Wheatley from Provo

Next week I'll tell you about a guy named, Mr. Bailey. We've only had one lesson with him but it went incredible. We'll see what happens this next Saturday when we get to meet him again.

Again, I'm so happy to be here because I know it's where the Lord needs me. I got an interesting and reassuring response to last week's letter to President Petersen. He said, "Build the gospel and know you are the difference." I know I'm here to be the difference but ONLY as I rely fully on the Holy Ghost to lead and guide me. I can't do this work on my own.

D&C 50 says something like, "...doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way? And if it be by some other way it is not of God."

Love to all back home!

 -Elder Wheatley

Just some ramblings...

Dan emailed me back and forth today, but there really wasn't a whole lot that I thought was blog-worthy.

A few random thoughts from his email:

One thing that stood out this week besides walking like pioneer children was something kind of stupid. this guy we've been teaching, the guy who had been studying the church since '92, decided that the Telestial kingdom was good enough for him. He said that he liked his vices too much. I just thought of something that you said to me growing up, "You get what you go for."

Mosquitoes are killer out here.  It's honestly worse than a needle.

Side note from Dan's Mom:
I received a really nice letter from an Elder in Dan's mission.  Here it is...

 

I thought it was really nice to get a letter from another missionary.  Reading through that letter I thought Dan had set him up to this and so I asked Dan today via email.  He said, "He's my district leader and one night he asked me if there was anything he could do for me like they do every night, so I told him to write you a letter. He's hilarious. One night I told him to make me breakfast burrito for the next morning.... and he did it!"

 

Glad they are enjoying their mission!

 

Love my Bubba!

Another week chalked up...

Quick e-mail tonight... Hope it's enough. I just wasted our whole day cleaning because this apt was filthy! I think the mission prez is gonna send me to every dirty place just so that I can clean it. Elders are nasty, man. It's like none of em had mothers teach em anything! haha. My momma taught me right :)

So as you know, i'm in Lonoke! It's a small town again but it is a very great place for missionary work. This last week we had 25 lessons! We've met a lot of cool people. A lot of potential. It's gonna take a lot of work though. Skeeters (mosquitoes), heat, humidity. That's Lonoke. I changed my shirt and socks 3 times one day! But it was worth it because we saw so many.

I'm follow-up training. This Elder's name is Elder Cassler from Orem. He's gonna be a great missionary. He's got a lot to learn but he learns quick and is open to learning. We're getting along great!

We met a guy named H.... He's been researchin the church since '92 and believe all we believe. We had a discussion with him about the Plan of Salvation and he got super excited about the pre-mortal existence. We showed him Rev. 12 about the war in heaven and he was so interested that he had us walk with him over to his friend's house who was currently studying Revelations. I thought, "Crap... this person is gonna know more than me and say something that would turn Harrell away." But you wouldn't believe it! We knew more, due to the Holy Ghost filling my mind and mouth. We were able to teach them and they thought it was very interesting. They never were taught what we taught them... and it was all out of the bible! btw did I tell you how cool the bible is? EVERYTHING we believe is in there! It boggles my mind why folks don't see that-- even if we show it to them. It's sad actually. The devil has such a grasp on them. Even more sad, he knows this is the true church and he wants to join and go to the temple cause he understands it all but, "he doesn't want to give up this vices," (cigarettes). I don't even get it. ridiculous. haha. But we're gonna work with him.

Well i'm gonna hop off cause Elder Cassler needs to e-mail his fam.

Stoked to be here!

Love you more!

-Elder Wheatley

Write it down!

Hi Momma!

Ok. This week I decided to do what you do which is after something cool happens, write it down on a sticky note so that I remember what happened this week when I write you.

6 Major things:

1) Tuesday we had Zone Meeting and Elder Mortensen and I had a very spiritually powerful role play with another set of Elders. We, after two months together, are finally, totally in-tune with each other and with the Spirit. We learned so much from one little role play. It was awesome!

2) We took a deacon out teaching with us because for three weeks he's been asking. He is a great kid that wants to do what's right. He took us to his friend's house. He wanted to introduce the gospel to his friend. Isn't that cool?

His friend wasn't there but we were able to talk to his mother for a while. We went back Saturday to invite them to church. They didn't come but-- SEED PLANTED. And you can't harvest if you don't plant.

We'll follow up this week. I have faith good things will come just because that 12-year-old, Gabe, wanted to share the gospel with his friend and he wasn't scared to do it.

3) We had a very good lesson with Randy. Very unorthodox way of teaching because he has such an abstract mind but... So do I! So I know exactly how to put things in ways he'd understand. He's made leaps and bounds in the last week! Super stoked.

4) Got an interesting phone call from the mom of one of our peeps. He's in the hospital at UAMS. We vaguely knew that he had some health problems in the past (years ago) but he seemed perfectly normal this whole time we've known him. I'm not worried. His mom said he'd be fine. I'm gonna see if I can visit him after transfers on Wednesday.

5) Leads me to my next point.... I"M FREAKIN GETTING TRANSFERRED! What????? NO! I love this place! It's the Celestial Kingdom of missionary work! There are people, like Randy, that still need me! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

But. I'll, with a smile and upbeat attitude, go where He wants me to go. No matter how hard. Gulp. End of story. :)

Don't know where i'm going but thought i'd let you know before you send my peanut butter to my companion. ;)

Conway's been great though. It'll be very very hard to beat. Members are amazing here. I feel safe. I love the people.

6) Back to good news! Thursday night guess who came to visit?? Doug and Bridget! Yeah! They came all the way up from Bismark just for me! I feel so special! Those people are the best! We went out to eat at iHop and got some ice cream at a joint called, Shakes. Bridget even made me a 10-layer jello desert!

It made my stay even better to see them. I had an amazing time! :)

  

Well, I was taking it kind of hard that I was leaving. No one was expecting it, but I felt inspired to read Jacob 6, verses 2 and the first part of 3,

 2 And the day that he shall set his hand again the second time to recover his people, is the day, yea, even the last time, that the servants of the Lord shall go forth in his power, to nourish and prune his vineyard; and after that the end soon cometh.

 3 And how blessed are they who have labored diligently in his vineyard;

I have a work to do. Doesn't matter where or who. I just gotta do it. It helped. And i'm SO motivated.

I love this work. I'm gonna show it.

-Elder Bubba