November 18, 2013

hahaha funny picture.  Oh ps- sister garry and I want to be roommates at BYU. And if we dont get into byu we want to go to Uvu but live in byu housing. so yea. we decided that.  =D lov eyou!!

Yay louis got baptized!!! yay!!!

HELLO!!!!

 Another week down.  SO crazy. =D So- we got transfer news.  And sister Ninataype and I are staying together for another 6 weeks. We are super pumped! We already have our christmas cards planned out!  I love my companion. So fun. 

So this week has been literally the craziest/weirdest/most draining week of my entire mission so far.  Remeber Louis? Yeah.  We have just had a crazy week with everything. So last monday- during his interview the doctors called his wife into go.  We found out that she was being tested for cancer.  So after the interview, the elders gave Hermana Patricia a blessing. All was well.  Louis super passed his interview and was ready to get baptized. Our district leader also talked to the ward mission leader and the bishop- and all was well.   So we came and emailed and did the rest of the random things that we needed to do.  Then we were going to go bowling for a zone activity.  So we get to the alley at 3:15.  we walk through the door and say hello and whateves.  Then we get a call from hermana Patricia.  And we both just got this sinking feeling.  I just kept thinking 'oh no!!'. Sister Ninataype answered the phone and I instantly knew that something was wrong.  She was speaking rapid fire spanish, and was totally freaking out. She kept saying that Louis wasn't going to get baptized.  So Sister Ninataype finally got a word in and said "where are you? we are coming right now." So we left the activity and went to their house.  We got there at 3:30 and didn't leave until 7:30.  It was probably the longest day of my entire life. We found out that Patricia has STAGE 4 breast cancer. And that she had a appointment the next morning to figure out what she needs to do about the treatments.  It is her second bout with it. (the first time was stage 3.  She had a Mastectomy and 3 hefty stages of chemo.)  And because of the tension they were both freaking out.  Both just scared out of their minds.   With the tension came fighting, and he ended up leaving, slamming the door behind him.  We stayed another hour, just praying and talking with sister patricia.  It was crazy.  I just felt so helpless, and I don't have very many life experiences.  But we were able to testify of Christ and his healing power and his miracles.  And actually we had a crazy thing happen.  We went to walmart before this entire thing- to print off some pictures, and so Oscar and Mina could get their pictures from their wedding.  And when I was paying for the pictures I had this feeling to get 20 dollars in cash, I knew there was some in their from my birthday.  I usually don't do that, but I did and put it in my wallet.  And while I was sitting there talking with her, I remembered the 20 dollars in my wallet. and had this strong impression to give it to her.  At first I was really worried about it, because people get offended and stuff, and I didn't want to seem weird.  So I dismissed it.  But like five minutes later the same impression came back- but even stronger. So I gave it to her, and at first she wouldn't take it.  But then I shared our story.  When Mom had cancer.  And just asked her to take it.  Then I was able to share my testimony again.  So we left her that night, and she was feeling somewhat better (i hope anyways).  and on the way out we saw Louis.  So we talked to him as well. Left him with a prayer.  And even though it was crazy- i just knew it would work out.  So the next day we go over again. at 8:30.  and we sit down.  And both of them are super chill, holding hands. So everything was good.  Then Patricia looked me straight in the eyes and said "Sister Wiser, thank you for the 20 dollars you gave me yesterday" Then she went on to explain that the appointment was going to cost 75 dollars.  So her son pulled 80 dollars out of her account.  But when they got there they found out the appointment was 100 dollars.  If  I wouldn't have followed that prompting, and given her the 20 dollars, she wouldn't have been able to have her appointment.  And the most they could pull out of her son's account was 80, because of rent and stuff.  It was crazy.  She just kept saying thank you. That was a wonderful birthday miracle. I feel so blessed to be able to take part in little miracles.  And Heavenly father always provides for his children when they have faith.  That experience was a little tender mercy for me. I wouldn't have wanted to use the birthday money in any other way.  Heavenly father is SOOOO great!! He just gets everything right- even to the tiny dollar amounts.  We didn't bring up the baptism that night- because it was 9:00 and we had to get back home.  But on exchanges on wednesday (with sister Garry and Sanchez) Sister Ninataype when over and re-set the Baptismal Date for Saturday!  So all is well. and we had the program, once again and the ward all on board, we had plans to combine it with another baptism that our district leader was having.  So all is well, then Firday night rolls around. and we were sleeping. and all of a sudden the phone went off.  At 11:45.  Patricia said that Louis got called into work tomorrow. and that he couldn't change it or get it off.  We were like NOOOOOO!!!  Satan did not want this man to get baptized! so we got out of bed and had a prayer that everything would work out.  We went back to sleep and woke up saturday morning.  We literally tried everthing in our power to have the baptism, but every single thing we tried fell through.  We literally did ALL that we could do.  So sunday rolls around and we call patricia and find out that Louis got out of work at 3:00.  So we set up the baptism for Sunday night at 5:30.  AND we were determined to make it happen.  So was Louis and Pati. So sunday rolls around. and I was literally praying ALL DAY LONG. 4:15 rolls around and we still hadn't heard anything from them.  So we called Pati. and she was like "hermanas!! he just got home from work!! we are coming!!".  I was so happy.  We said a thank you prayer.  Then prayed that their car wouldn't break down, or that a T-rex wouldn't fall out of the sky and eat him. literally- with all the craziness, anything could have happened.  So he Got there and was baptized at 5:30 on sunday.  It was beautiful.  Sister ninataype and I gave the talks, then we sang.  Then he was baptized by a brother in the ward. The spirit was beautiful. And he looked SO happy and at peace after his baptism.  We talked to him after and he said that he felt 20 pounds lighter.  That the burden he had carried for so long was completely lifted.  That is the miracle of the atonement.  That is why I am a missionary.  I love this work! I know that God works miracles.  We see them every single day.  It is such a blessing.  Love you all sooooooo much! have a wonderful week.  There was so much other stuff that happened this week to. but i just don't have time to tell it! dang.  O well. Erick is getting baptized this following sunday- and he is already doing missionary work.  He is our neighbor, and he knocked on our door at like 10:15 at night.  and we answered it (after we looked through the peep hole, don't worry daddy) and he was like "hey sisters! my friend here wants to know about Joseph smith. Can you talk to him?' haha so we set up a return appointment with him. It was great! miracles miracles!!

Love yall!

-Sister wiser

Hello family and Friends!!!

Thank you ALL so much for the birthday cards, letters, and packages!! I am such a spoiled missionary!! Thank you all!  You will all receive a letter- haha it might take me a few weeks- But you will.  Thanks for making my birthday special!

ALSO!!- I would like to give a shout out to my new cousin ADAM!!! He was born on my birthday!! YAY!! Congrats Deana and Michael!! He is beautiful!!

SOOOO this week was literally INSANE. and GREAT. and really insane. =D So we had the 3 day leadership training.  And we always see crazy miracles during the trainings. So all the Zone leaders, district leaders, and STL's come from all over the mission- and it is like 3 days of intense spiritual learning (like the MTC) compacted into 3 days.  Then during the evenings- they put us with a different companion- to go out and work and see miracles.  and MY oh MY!! we saw miracles!! last week we found 8 new investigators.  it was literally crazy.  And I got to work with my mission mom! Sister Sanders!! It was so fun to get to work with her again. She is such a wonderful BOLD missionary.  Man- President has really focused a lot on opening your mouth and talking to everyone- so we have been.  and it has been really cool.  There was one guy though- that had got a hold of anti-mormon- material- and he was... difficult.  But Sister sanders just testified boldly I loved one thing that she said "Brother, we are called as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, by a living prophet.  We are here to call people to repentance." then we both shared strong testimonies with him..and basically called him to repentance (with love. bold love) . and left. but it was crazy! But it is true!! WE ARE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SAVIOR!! Our calling is real- and the time is now!!  I have really tried to start teaching and inviting with more urgency.  Because- really the salvation of human souls is at stake.  I feel so blessed to have this calling! yay!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!  So my birthday was tuesday! and our zone leaders and district leader and his companion (E. barrionuevo, barth, garcia, and knighton) came and knocked on our door at 7:00.  We were kinda of exercising so we had to run and put decent clothing on. haha.- but we answered. and they made a Gluten Free bithday cake for me! it was so nice!! and sang.  Hahah it was the first cake any of them had ever made- and I knew it was GF because one of them muttered (yeah.. it was kinda expensive) haha. YUP. I thought it was great.  Then they sang to me in english and spanish.  Then- at the training ALL the missionaries sang to me at lunch time.  Ha I actually turned red in my face. it was fun though.  Sister Ninataype worked with sister myers- and they set a baptismal date with our next door neighbor and his brother! Erick is SOOOO prepared it is nuts.  We have had a lesson every day with him since- and he came to church.  It is so cool- because he has really truly been searching for this.  and he loves the book of mormon.  You will hear more details in the future.  But he is super cool! and he is going to get baptized this month!!

THIS IS THE CRAZY PART!!- Remember our investigator louis?  We we lost contact with him since last sunday- he just found a new job and has been working like crazy. (if you dont remember- he is the husband of patricia- that was taught and baptized by Johnny Crimm)  And our commitment for him last time was to pray with his wife- about a date. Because he is literally ready for any day this month.  So- we weren't able to follow up with him until last night.  We didn't have any plans to go over and see their family- but We had a tiny little spiritual prompting to go over.  And he had walked in moments before we went and knocked on the door.  So we started with a prayer and started up with following up- seeing if he prayed.  And he said that he had prayed and that he wanted to as soon as possible- But his new work schedule takes up ALL of his evenings- including sundays.  But then he said "but i have tomorrow off." Then Sister Ninataype and I looked at eachother- then asked "Louis, would you like to be baptized tomorrow?" and he said YES!!! and got the biggest smile on his face! and his wife looked SOOOOO suprised!!  So we called the ward mission leader- and prayed a lot- ALL is well for the baptism tonight!  We set up the program- and he passed his interview. SO he is getting baptized today!!!! It has been such a miracle!!!!! So you will get pictures next week.  It has been a crazy day.  But at 5:30 Louis Saucedo is getting baptized. happy day!!

It was a great great week!  Thanks again for all the birthday wishes!  I know that God is a God of miracles!  He answers prayers. He knows the things that we need- and when we pray- FULL of faith- he will answer.  Love you all!!

Do some missionary work!

-Love

---Sister WIser =D

 Best package ever!! Thanks mommy and grandma!!! i am spoiled for sure

 This is the present lay out. haha- we had so much fun opening all of them!! it was great

 This is a super ugly picture of me.  But it was at 7:00 in the morning... haha and i was happy! because i got cake!! thanks Elders!! They sang to me then we all ate cake and ice cream at 7 in the morning. haha only on the mission. how great. =D

 this is the birthday cake. yummy

  This is me and sister ninataype, and elder barrionuevo after they all sang to me at lunch! thanks for the dress momma!

this is me holding a toad.  it was super freezing this day! and had rained all night long- and there were frongs in the back of the elders truck.  i am not sure why. haha funny.

Culebra-snake/Corbata-tie- What the!! im 21 this week!!

 Oscar and Mina invited us to carve pumpkins for halloween! it was fun! we made up some pretty great analogies of how we are like pumpkins- and applied it to the gospel! super fun!!

 This is a little girl that helped me play the piano at a baptism. hahaha. it was. interesting. So cute though. =D

 Here is a picture of all the STL's. we had a meeting with President and the ap's

 The entire cast. =D haha

This is a picatures of the Mcallen zone!!! As a zone we surpassed our goal for the month of october and helped 26 souls enter the waters of baptism!!

These are all the 'arboles' y 'jose smith' from the play. hahaha =D 

Hello wonderful family and friends!!! 

Thank you all for the birthday messages and cards. =D I feel so loved. This past week was literally crazy! and wonderful. and crazy!! I have some great miracles and a pretty good embarrassing one. so here we go!

This week we had a bunch of great lessons and things set up.  Remember JC? his real name is Jose Carlos- but everyone calls him JC. Anyways he went MIA for about 2 1/2 weeks. And we could not find him anywhere.  But then this week on Sunday we went over to Oscar and Mina's house and he was there! So we sat down and had a lesson with them.  At the first of every lesson we follow up with the commitments/invitaions that we left them with the time before (like baptismal date, reading the scripts, praying, church...ect.) The past visit we had invited mina and Oscar to read the book of mormon together.  And it was the 3rd or 4th time that they hadn't done it.  We were SOOOO sad. Before we started the lesson- we were all laughing and telling stories and stuff- but after we found out that they hadn't been reading their scriptures Sister Ninataype and I got really serious.  Because as missionaries- our role is truly to invite people to come unto Christ by making and keeping commitments.  Commitment helps people to repent and to change. Helps them to apply the basics of the gospel and truly come closer to christ.  When they don't do the little things like come to church- read the scriptures- pray...ect- they are litterally shutting themselves off from the Lords help and blessings. So anyways- we are sitting in Oscar and Mina's little tiny one bedroom apartment, - we had planned to do a recap of the plan of salvation- but sister ninataype and i both knew that if we let it slide they would never see the importance of the scriptures.  So we both bore strong and very bold testimonies on reading the scriptures- and the importance of doing the little things.  - All of this was done with love, don't worry.  Sisters always love. =D-  There was this one point that i looked at oscar.. and i could just tell he wasn't getting it.  So i called him by name and said 'Oscar, the book of mormon is another testatament of jesus christ.  It is holy scripture that can speak directly to you and answer any questions that you have. When you don't take time to read the scriptures, it is like you are looking God in the face and telling him that you don't want or dont have the time for the answers and the revelations that he has put in there directly for you.' bold right? man- I didn't realize what I had siad until after I said it. I then followed that up with a strong testimony how the book of mormon and had answered the questions that I have had in my life. and how God would answer their specific questions if they would take the time to read. After that- we read the chapter that we had invited them to read last time.  it was 3 nefi 11.  Which is when Christ comes to the Americas! what a powerful chapter!!!! We took turns reading it out loud, and the spirit was there super strong.  It was wonderful. We were once again able to testify of the truth of the Book of Mormon. That it truly is another testament of Jesus Christ.  And that he loves us enough to invite us one by one to feel the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet.  he loves us.  I know he does... because he loves me.  I have seen the power of the atonement work in my life and in the lives of my loved ones.  The atonement truly can heal any broken heart or wounded soul. No matter the damage it can be fixed throught the merits and mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing!! It was so powerful! Especially with our Recent Converts.  And JC was in there the entire time as well.  After we had read a little bit it started talking about baptism.  And oscar and Mina both turned and started teaching JC about the imporance of baptism!!!! it was AWESOME!!!!  We then invited him again to be baptized.  he is preparing for November 24. Pray for him!! he needs this and wants it. Wahooo!! miracles!!!

THEN- we were at church last sunday- and there is a lady, names Patricia, that was baptized in April with her daughter by Elder Crimm- who went to high school with me and Sis. Ninataype.  And her husband, Louis, has been coming to church, and wants to change his life. And so we are teaching him!! Tonight we have a lesson planned with him and we are going to set a baptismal date with him sometime in the next 2 weeks.  Pray that he can feel the spirit!  it is amazing the miracles that we witness! God truly does put prepared people in our path.  It is crazy- because we don't even have to worry about getting him come to church- because he has already been coming.  He is an amazing man- and he has had a very very tough life. But God has really led him.  Every time he see's us he tells us thank you for coming.  It has been such a blessing to teach him!  oh!! also- he is a professional chef.  So he cooks really great gluten free things for us. YAY. =D haha blessing all around.

AND- I work in the best ward in the world.  I LOVE MY SPAINISH WARD SOOOO MUCH!! Ah man they are great.  This week they did a ward FHE- for us to invite our investigators to and for members to come.  And they asked us to do a play of the restoration! SO- yup- I directed and wrote a play on my mission. Odd. haha sometimes the mission is odd.  But I made this legit script of the restoration and put music to the entire thing.  We only practiced once but it was great.  We have 6 companionships of missionaries serving in our ward. So it was a blast. The spirit was there super strong as well. I was happy with it- and i got to play the piano the entire time. so that was fun.  haha my favorite part was during the part of the actual first vision.  We didn't have any costumes- so i made signs with everyone's characters on it.  So there was one for 'Jose Smith'(joseph smith) and 'Arbol'(tree) and then we had narrators that did the speaking parts and all the other missionaries would act out what aws happening in the script.  In the part of the fist vision- Joseph smith was holding a picture of the actual 1st vision (we thought that would be more appropriate) with all the other misionaries standing around them in hilarious tree poses.  With their Signs on their necks that sais 'arbol'. it was super funny- but also very spiritual. After elder Montiel had recited the 1st vision- they all sang the last verse of Joseph smith's first prayer.  it was very powerful.  It was a great experience. and fun for everyone. =D

And here is the embarrassing story for the week. it is a spanish mistake. So- we were at the ward activity with Louis and Patricia. and for some reason they were telling us about this odd TV show they were watching about how these crazy animals would bite people. Like lions.. and bears.. and lizard/snake things.. So i Decided it would be fun to share my experience when i was like 9 and got bit by the boa constructor at Grandma's neighbors house.  Do you remember that?  haha i guess i can't really forget it.  So i start to explain it and i say 'Si, y mi mordio una corbata!!!'  everyone pauses for a moment and then just starts laughing their heads off. and i was confused- because that is not the normal reaction i get when i tell that story.  So i think about what i said- and sister ninatayped was laughing so hard that she was doubled over.  And then i realized that i had said  'Yeah! and then a neck tie bit me!' oh m an.. I was so embarrassed! but it was all fun.  So watch out ye humans that wear ties- they might bite you.

Haha well. I have to run! i hope you all have a wonderful week! love you! and thanks for the all the birthday-ness.

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL!!

-Sister Wiser