A few pics

Normal week so far.

So how is everybody this week? It has been pretty normal this week but we shall see how this one goes. I mean normal is a relative term. I am now on my fifth companion this transfer. Because the mini missionary was sent to another area so that I could show this area to someone else because I am out of here at the end of this transfer. It has been interesting. Trying to show him as many things as I can so that he will know it before I go. His name is Elder Cornejo and he is from Peru. He is a really cool kid and we have had some fun. I mean it has only been like three days but we have had some fun to be able to just work and talk to people instead of having to worry about what is coming next because he will be here now until the end so we don`t have to have any more changes. Now that we can work and we are having success I will be heading out. That kind of stinks, but that is how it goes sometimes. But we are doing good now. I was realizing that I hadn`t had a native companion in my first like 15 months and then in the same transfer I had 5 haha. So ya I guess when it rains it pours...

So this week I had to give a talk in church. This time it was a little bit easier because I got the subject of the book of mormon and it´s influence in the world today. Pretty easy to talk about what I do everyday and I found some stories from the liahonas that talked about how people´s lives had been changed by the book of mormon. It was a fun experience. And the ward was pretty full. I mean there were some of the families that we have been working with that are less active were there. That was so fun to see.

The nine year old that we baptized when I first got to this area, his family was completely inactive and now they go every week and had an interview with the bishop because they want to go to the temple. That is just super cool to be able to see. It is pretty fun to be able to help people. I think that it is just as important retaining people and reactivating people as baptizing new ones. Because if those that are already baptized aren`t able to continue what is the good of baptizing more. That is the focus of what we are trying to do now. It is hard work but it is very rewarding. 

This family that has started coming back, his parents and sisters are starting to come as well so that is cool. The parents have a son that served in texas and now lives in rexburg. So he was on the phone with them when we passed by yesterday and the mom was like oh I am going to get the phone so you can talk to him. So ya kind of awkward, but it was cool. He has two almost three kids and ya just a cool guy. 

Cool experiences everyday. Weird sometimes, but very cool. There is nothing like being a missionary. It is an experience that I never would have been able to have and I am just enjoying it so much right now.

I got my trunky papers today that I need to fill out. I will send you a copy mom so that you can fill in the info that it needs because I don`t have the info of the stake president or any of that. But ya that just makes me realize that the time is short and that I have to keep working hard because that is the way to be happy. 

Well fam thanks for all of your help and support always. I love you guys so much and hope you have a great week. I am hoping for a calm week but we shall see what this one brings. 

Love,

Elder Wheeler

Second trip to the Hospital!

This is Federico an Elder that served here not too long ago and lives with the family that we had christmas dinner with. He is a cool kid and this was at dinner. Where the power was out and it was over a hundred degrees with the sun down.

This is a kid in the ward named Joaquin. He is only eight years old, but he asked me if I would baptize him. And so of course I said yes. His dad is not a member and his uncles and grandpa weren`t able to baptize him so he asked if I would and it was really fun.

This is the Gonzalez family with Elder Segovia. We were saying goodbye before he headed out. I don`t know if I sent pics of my comp before, but that is him. 

This is little Almendra (Almond), she is the little wart that we are looking for the shoes for. She is a cute little thing and is just starting to talk. She is my little bud... 

Hey Fam,

Well it has been a while since I have been able to send pics so here are a few of my many travels. I hope you enjoy them. I am going to try and send some others in another email. But for now if I run out of time here they are. 

So anyway this has been a week full of stuff. My comp headed out tuesday in the morning and made it there tuesday in the night I assume I don`t know anything because I haven`t heard. So ya this week started off good, not! Tuesday night we had to go to the offices because we were in a trio and one of the elders had to go do some documents. So we had to sleep there. We got there late because the bus left us sitting for like an hour in the night waiting. We got there and then went right to bed because we were beat. Then at 4:30 in the morning the light gets flipped on and an elder comes in with a big gash in his harm. Like a chunk of flesh taken out. Ya not something that you really want to wake up to. But apparently as he was walking in the apartment at 4:30 in the morning which I am still wondering the reason he fell on the stairs and the railing was taken off because they were painting so only the little metal brackets that hold it on are there. And as he was falling he caught his fall on one of those and cut his arm pretty bad. There were only two of us that woke up to help the kid. And the other elder was the secretary. He was the one that had to go do the documents. So guess who got to go back to the hospital...Yep you got it ME! And so at five in the morning when no one is there. We went into the emergency room and he got stitched up while I got to do all of his paperwork. Such a fun morning. 

Then we had to take him to do the documents because by the time we got out they had already left. And so I got to sit and wait there for a while before going back to the offices. And finding out that I had a mini missionary waiting for me. So I helped Sister Ence with some stuff that was happening on her computer and we headed to the area to work. The starting of the week a little hectic and I have not been able to catch up on sleep since then. I have been so tired everyday so far and it just isn`t fun because I am falling asleep everywhere. But that is what I was called to do so I just deal with it. It isn`t bad at all just the fact that I can`t stay awake for anything in the mornings haha. 

My comp is from San Juan which is in our mission like two hours away. He is 18 and the oldest of five kids. He is a violin player since he was young. And is a pretty cool kid. We get along good. 

Well google had blocked my account for something that I have no idea so I talked to President and he told me that I could finish writing now. So I will be finishing this letter up. 

So today we had interviews and I got to talk to President. Man I love that man. He is such a cool guy and he helps me so much in everything that I am doing. I am so happy to be here as a missionary and to have had all of the experiences that I have had. I know that I am supposed to be here and that everything that has happened to me is for the better and that I have grown a lot in my time here as a missionary. I am very blessed and I know that everything in my life has been for the better of my experience. So thank you for everything that you have done for me to help me get to the place that I am right now. I know that you have all taught me great life lessons and they have helped me very much in my life.

But ya as always time is short because it is tuesday and President gave me a little time to write to you guys. So thank you for everything and I hope that all is well for you. I love you all and thank you for the support that you have always given me in my life. I know that you my family and friends are the reason I am the person I am and I am in the place that I am in my life right now. I wish you all the best week and we shall talk again next week!

Love, 

Elder Wheeler

No regrets

Hey Fam,

Well how is everybody? I am doing pretty good. Unfortunately I have some bad news. We heard news from President that my comp will be on the first plane back to Ecuador either today or tomorrow. Whenever the first leaves. So ya he is pretty shaken up about that but it is best for him. Because his situation is pretty serious and as Presdient had told him that if he would have told people about everything that he had that he wouldn`t have even received a call. He is headed home and not too happy but it is already decided and so there isn`t anything that he can do about it,  we are a pretty sad about that, but it has been good the time that we have had together. We were talking about it and it has just been a good experience for the both of us. I have learned a ton. And well now I will be without a companion for a bit so I will be in a trio with the other elders that we live with for a bit. I don`t know for how long, but ya that is all that I have heard for now. 

So after monday of all day in the hospital we spent the majority of the week there doing tests for him to get the things done that he needed to. And now he knows that he couldn`t stay and do everything he needs to do to be able to get better. So he will be home tomorrow to get everything figured out and start the treatments and hopefully in like six months he will be able to come back and finish. So ya that is the big news from the week. 

In other news it is boiling hot and it is hotter than it has ever been before. Because before for like one or two days it would be really warm and then it would cool back down, but we have like two weeks of straight hot hot weather. It has been over a hundred for the majority of the days. That isn`t too fun, but ya know.. it is okay. 

The ward was trying to organize food plans for my comp because we were all planning on him staying, but now they are all sad. But that is the name of the game. He got to come for a minute and experience what his mission will be like so that when he gets better he can come back and do everything he needs to.

But ya other than that nothing has happened big. Yesterday we made a really good dessert. Someone had a cookbook from the states so they picked a banana nut roll thing. It was pretty good. I mean I am not a big fan of the whole nuts things inside of food but it was good nonetheless. 

I don`t have a ton to tell this week as always time is short, but it has been a great week. I am sad to see my comp go but it has been great to get to know him and you just have to be thankful for the time you are given with people and not worry about what could have been. I have no regrets and hope to never have regrets with the experiences that I have in life. I know that everything happens for a reason and I just try to take advantage of every moment that I have here. I love it and wouldn`t trade it for anything. 

Thank you all for everything that you do for me. I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week. I will send pics next week when I am in a place to be able to send them. But anyways until next week I love ya and have a good one.

Love,

Elder Wheeler

Trip to the Hospital

Well this has been quite the week. I am writing this letter from the offices. No I am not back in the offices, but we had quite the eventful day. We have been in the hospital for my comp all day and so he could use some prayers. He is doing fine but has some existing things from before and is having to do bunches of tests for everything. 

So this morning I had lots of time to get some studying done. That was fun because I never feel like I have enough time to do that. As a mission we are reading the book of mormon in 66 days, what it took Joseph Smith to translate it. So ya we are in the first of Mosiah right now. And this time I am doing it all in spanish, it was a little rough through the chapters of Isaiah in second nephi. But since then I have understood all of it. So that is what I have seen as another blessing that I am able to understand spanish especially the book of mormon because it is not just the common speech. So that has been wonderful. I love it so much and I figured that I was going to finish my reading for the day and need something else to do so I threw in the book of the teachings of Lorenzo Snow which is the new manual this year. And so I was reading about his life as I sat there and waited. Wow that was pretty cool, I cannot believe how much that man went through and how many things that he saw. But it was pretty entertaining in my time of waiting. 

The time is just flying by I cannot believe it. I was just taking with Sister Ence who had gotten here just before I got to the offices last year. And she finishes a year of her mission in about a week. So she is half way already with her husband. So ya it is incredible for everyone how fast the time is flying. I am trying to just work hard always and stay focused in what I am doing here. Because I know that we can help these people in the ways that they need with the help of the Lord. I am so thankful for the blessings that I have had and I am just loving my time here. I don´t have a lot of time to write right now, because we are in everything with my comp trying to make sure he is okay. But I just wanted to let you know that from now on we are going to be writing in the morning so before like ten or eleven o´clock for you guys. Just so you know so probably a good idea to write on sunday night or something if you want me to get it. I am sorry for not being able to write too much but with the circumstances it doesn´t really permit.

 I just want to say as always I love you all and hope that you are doing great. Thanks for the pics always and for the letters because it is just fun and good for me to hear what you are doing. So keep it up. Mom don´t worry about the water balloons it isn´t worth waisting your time. But thank you anyways for the efforts. I haven´t gotten any more packages but I will be on the lookout for them. Thank you for everything and I hope you have a great week.

Love,
Elder Wheeler

New Year's Eve

Well to start off it was great to see all of you guys on tuesday. I hope you had a good christmas. I sure did. It was so fun to talk to all of you. I was happy to see that I got some presents. My packages were wonderful. As I told you on the call I gave a tie to everyone in the apartment of the singing ones because I had the two from last year. So we all wore them for christmas. I was the only one that opened presents that morning. Because no one else wanted to wait to open their stuff. So they either didn`t get anything or they opened their packages the week before and so they didn`t have anything to open. I don`t know I enjoy having something so that it actually feels like christmas. So I waited and it was well worth it.  Thank you for the treats and for the ties. I loved it all.

 I ended up giving away the other singing tie as well to my comp because he picked the only one that didn`t sing at first. So I gave him two of them so he can have them for next year. Because I won`t be needing them. No but he really liked them so that was good. And then he gave me a really cool tie as well. It is a tie from ecuador like one that the natives made I can`t think of the word right now in english to explain it, but it is white. So ya pretty cool. We headed back to the apartment after talking and then we just slept and ya not too many things out of the ordinary. It was a good day but for real does not feel like christmas has already passed for a second time while being here. I cannot believe how fast the time flies when you work hard and you are enjoying it. I love it right now. My comp is a really good kid, it is really good. I mean it is different living with someone from a complete different culture, but it is a great experience. And I only talk in spanish so it is fun. Because I have been able to improve my ability little by little. And this transfer just ended but since I am training we are together one more. And then the other Elder that was with me last year in San Rafael that has been with us this transfer is training as well right now. So we will have two brand new elders in the apartment with us. It will be a good experience. I have had a lot of fun living with three latins. It has been interesting, but very good at the same time. It is like the mission itself. It is trying at times, but overall there is nothing better in my life that I could be doing right now. I love being a missionary.

Not a whole lot happened this week after talking because not a whole lot of people have been home. But there is this one lady that we have been passing by and she is just loving the book of mormon. We are reading with her when we go by and she just loves everything that we have been sharing with her. She has had problems with just about all of the other churches and now with us she says she just always feels good when we are around and that everything that we have talked about has made her feel really good. So the spirit is working with her very strongly. She lost her son a few years ago and so we have been trying to teach her the plan of salvation and it is helping her to see the purpose of everything and not hurt so much. And these are the reasons I love being a missionary because you get to see giant changes in peoples lives and how the gospel can bless them and does bless them. Also it is one of the few times in your life when you can feel so loved. Well you are loved and hated at the same time. Because with all of the members or people that have talked with the missionaries before and understand what we are doing, just love us to come over and always feed us. And then you have the other side, but that is nothing compared to the love that you feel from everyone. 

Well fam that is all I have for this week. I will be back to normal time for writing next week so I hope that that works for you guys. This week again the place closes early so we had to come early and so it doesn`t really work out but anyway that´s alright. 

But I love you all and it was great to see you all for christmas. Thanks for all of the treats and prezzies that I got in my packages. They were wonderful. So thanks for that and always for your prayers they help so thanks and we shall talk next week.

Love always,

Elder Wheeler

P.S. Mom I asked the shoe size of little Almendra(Almond in English) and it is size 20 but that would be the european size type so I am not sure what that would transfer to be. But maybe you could look and the shoes have those sizes on their too. Give me an estimate on how much they would be if you have time. I love you so much and thanks for all the help. Have they sent anything from school or scholarships...? I think all I have to do is let them know when I get back but just in case keep your eyes out for anything... thanks love ya

12-17-12

Hey Fam,

How is everybody doing in this fine holiday season. Anybody else boiling hot...? Because I sure am, it got into triple digits of heat yesterday. I am dying. I can safely say I was not made to live in the heat, I am definitely supposed to be in the cold. Ok so before I forget, next week the call on the twenty fifth will be at like 6 here, so around 3 your time in the afternoon. It was the latest that I could get so that it wasn`t right in the middle of the day, but ya that is what we are planning for. And yes we are going to use skype if all goes as planned. I hope it all can work out. Get your questions ready Dad! I know you have been working on them haha. No but I am excited to get to talk with everyone. 

Alright so I wanted to ask for a few things in a package when you can. Because it is super hot I was thinking of doing an activity with our ward with water balloons and the launchers. Because there is a huge field out behind the chapel, so I was wondering if you could try and send two of the launchers and balloons I don`t know if it is possible but with all of this heat I thought it would be a good activity to do. And then because everyone always wants us to make tacos some more taco seasoning packets... Then not to send but if you have it I would like the recipe for funeral potatoes because they are one of my favs and I would like to try and make them. So if you have time send the recipe on down for me. And any others that you have tried recently that have been good...

Well this week has been an eventful one. The other elders that live with us had a baptism. She is a little girl that has been coming to church with her grandma forever and no one knew that she wasn`t a member until she said she wanted to get baptized. So ya I got to do the interview for her. And I think that is one of the greatest experiences one can have as a missionary is getting to do baptismal interviews. You get to feel the spirit so strongly and feel how much heavenly father loves his children that are taking this wonderful decision in their lives. It is just amazing. So anyway the baptism was planned for saturday at 10:30. So the elders went up at 8:00 and got to the chapel around 8:30, I warned them that they were going to need more time to do everything, but they didn`t listen. And so they started filling it up and the water cut at the first step so maybe a foot of water not even. So the water system for the churches down here is that they have towers with two huge water tanks at the top and from those dropping the water gives them water pressure. But a slight problem both of the tanks were completely empty. So there is one at the bottom that slowly feeds those two and luckily it was full. But without pressure you can`t get the water into the chapel. So we took a hose and siphoned the water from that tank into garbage cans and we carried them in and dumped them into the font. It was quite the experience. Here is the 

picture to illustrate the experience.

  

Ya it is always an experience to have a baptism. There is never a smooth one. I have never had a smooth baptism before it is like someone is trying to impede the progress here. But as always we were able to come up with a way to do it. It was stressful to get everything figured out, but it was fun because it makes things more interesting always. 

I love being a missionary and getting to have all of these wonderful experiences. I hope that through my letters you too can enjoy some of my experiences. Because I feel so blessed to be a part of this work and everything that it entails. Tomorrow we have our christmas party with the mission so I will be sure to take a bunch of pictures to send to you guys. 

I think that is all I have for the fun experiences this week. I love you all and am really happy that we will get to be talking in a week. So again just so you don`t forget or anything 6 my time which should be around 3 in the afternoon for you guys. If there is a problem or something with that just let me know. Because hopefully we will be able to write on monday. I don`t know for sure because most places will be closed but if we do it will be early on monday like before 11 your time. So if you write try and do it before that. And if there are any problems hopefully we can figure them out then.

I thank you and love you all for everything you do for me.

Love, 

Elder Wheeler

P.S. Mom quick question there is a family that is trying to find a good price on little shoes. Because there little girl has flat feet so the doctor said she needed shoes with arches. But the problem is little shoes are really expensive and so I was just wondering if you could look in your many travels and see how much they are. Like little nike ones or just any with arch support. It is a little girl that is like a year and a little old. So they just don`t have tons of money because they are newly married and so just looking to see if there is a better deal else where. If you have time that would be wonderful, if not no big deal.

Also dad doctrine question for ya or for anyone that knows. Why doesn`t it mention Joseph the father of Jesus or husband of Mary in the bible after the birth. Something that I have been wondering about. I realize not that important but if you know of anything I would be happy to hear some input from anyone...Love ya

12-10-12

Hey Fam,

Well everything is going great. We have had a great week. We had zone conference this past week and it was awesome. Elder Resek who is an area seventy came and talked to us. It was really cool. It is amazing the spirit you can feel from a representative of the lord. I hope that the people that we teach daily can feel even a fraction of that spirit that I was able to feel while he was talking. He was just full of insight and it was just what I needed. It was one of those were you feel like there are things that you need to change, but at the same time you just love it because you are full of the spirit. The conferences are great because they make me realize the things I need to work on and get better at. Because something I think we all know is that we are nowhere near perfect and there are lots of things that we need to get better at. So it was really good to be able to have that little boost from him and to be able to continue working. I am so thankful for the leaders that we have in this church and for all of the help that they give us.

Well this week we have had a great week of finding good people. We had an investigator in church, she told us she was going to come and then showed up right on time. We sat with her and for the whole testimony meeting she was crying. She felt the spirit pretty strong I think, so we are pretty excited. And it was just awesome because after the meeting there were just tons of members that came over to say hi and introduce themselves. She really enjoyed it and it was just awesome for us as well. Also we found another lady that had lost her son about four or five years ago and we were able to teach her about the plan of salvation. She loved it. She was telling us she has tried just about every church and everyone of them has not been what she needed. But after listening to the plan that we were able to share with her she was really excited. And she said that what we were sharing with her made her feel just so good. Because the loss of her kid hasn`t left her since it happened. So she was really happy to hear that there is hope. And she said that her door was open for us to come visit whenever we wanted. So that was really cool. We had a really good lesson with her and the spirit was there for sure. We all just felt elevated. Being a missionary is unlike anything else in this world that I have experienced before. I love it so much and I wouldn`t trade the wonderful experiences for anything. It is amazing because you can have a week of crappy things and then you have one good appointment and you forget about all of the problems. It is just indescribable...Those that have been.. know what I am talking about. I know that this is where I am supposed to be and that I am learning things that I will be able to use for the rest of my life to help me.

I thank you all for the letters of support and the prayers. They are much needed, although this is the most rewarding work I have ever done it doesn`t change the fact that it is very difficult at times, but being positive and knowing that I have my family at home supporting me and friends it makes it a lot easier. so thank you for all of that and for always being there for me when I need you. I love each and everyone of you and hope you are having a great week. I am so proud to be able to call you my family and to have the knowledge that if we do what we need to in this life that we can live together forever. I love you all and want you all to know that you mean everything to me. I love being able to share my testimony of my family and to be able to share the things that you do for me. Thanks for everything and I hope you have a great week, talk to ya soon.

Love,

Elder Wheeler

12-3-2012

Hey Fam,

How is everybody doing this fine day? I am doing great just boiling hot...The weather is a killer right now. I am loving today though because as you can see from the pics I got to play some b ball on a court that wasn`t cement. It is so much more fun to not have to be on that. We just played a ton this morning. It was fun though, because I haven`t had a b ball sesh in a long time. Man was it hot in that place though. It was an indoor place that one of the elders checked out and talked to the guy. He just let us come and play on their court for a few hours. It was really cool, because he didn`t charge us anything or tell us we had to be out by a certain time. Just said we could come play. It was awesome. I had so much fun and it was a great stress reliever. So thankfully I am feeling a lot better right now. Because It is one of the few times when I don`t have to think about a million things and all of the problems that we have in the area. It is a very stressful time to be a trainer and district leader and all that it entails. So it is nice to have those small times of outlet. 

It is a great experience. And I have learned a ton being able to be here and do what I am doing. I love every second of it. There is truly no other place that I would rather be in my life right now.

Also attached is a picture of a family here. He is the second counselor here and also served his mission here with Bill Sullivan. So we always talk about him because he really admired him and was a good friend. So from that we had a connection from the beginning. But they have really just been a great family and are always taking care of us. They said to send their regards to you guys and to tell you that they are taking care of us so not to worry. It is such a blessing to be able to meet such wonderful people. So I wanted to just share that with you because if not I will get in trouble. No but they really do take great care of us and we have become very good friends so if you send more treats send some extras for them because they love treats from the states. I shard my gummy bears from the last package and they loved them so if you have more treats this time I will have to share more haha.

 

We are loving our time here and it is just great. I was going to tell you mom if you haven`t sent the packages that I need some pen drives. Because they are super expensive here. So I was wondering if you could put some in the packages when you send them. But try and hide them good. Like some put them in altoid containers or just something just in case they go through it. I have one that is full. It is 16 gigs so I don`t know if you can but like two more big ones if possible....

Anyway I love you all and thank you for all of the support and love that you always show me. I love you all tons and hope that you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Wheeler