Letter #46 from Australia

June 5, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

          This week was a good one, but not too much to report on! So I have been reunited with Elder Kelsch and it was really cool to see how our friendship and companionship unity just picked right back up from where we left it! He is a great missionary and I am so happy that I have the chance to be his final companion before he goes home! This week was spent driving around to help the missionaries in the zone!

          We had to take a trip to the office on Wednesday to get our cell phone fixed. Apparently there was a small bit of water in one of our car cup holders, and so it got water in it when I put it in the cup holder! That was a pretty long day! Then on Saturday, one of the companionships in the zone got into a car accident and in all the craziness of the post crash; they locked their keys in their flat. So we had to drive up there and open their flat for them! So with transfers and everything else that happened this week, we probably spent 4 days of the week driving around the mission to help the missionaries out! But it was all goods cause the time we did spend in our area, went really well!

          None of our investigators came to church on Sunday, but we did have a surprise visit from Karyn and Steven Wright! Steve was my first baptism on my mission up in Wangaratta with Elder Kelsch! Once they found out we were together, they drove down to see us! It was a great surprise to see them again! 

          Our Investigators are doing really well and they are all progressing towards baptism! We will be inviting a couple of them to be baptized this week and we pray all goes well! I love you all and really appreciate all of your support! Stay safe and enjoy summer!

Elder Wheeler

Karyn, Steve, me and Elder Kelsch! What a great surprise!

Elder Kelsch and I in front of the temple on Saturday. 

Letter #45 from Australia

May 29, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

          What a transfer this past one has been!!! Yep, that's correct. It has already been 6 weeks and Elder Halsey and I cannot believe it! If this is how fast the rest of my transfer will go while serving my mission, I am going to be home before I know it...and that scares me! haha So because it is the end of a transfer, some people will be moving to new areas and will be with new companions! Well it saddens me to say this, but Elder Halsey will be transferred. He has been serving here in Greenvale since January, so it did not come as a surprise to either of us! But it wasn't the news that we wished we would hear. He will still be serving as a Zone Leader, but will be on the East side of Melbourne in the Gippsland Zone! My new companion is also one of my old companions...?! I will explain later!

          This week was great and the work hear in our area is really progressing! We are still working really hard with the members to find new investigators and are having a lot of success! Elder Halsey and I didn't find a lot of new investigators this past transfer, but the ones that we did find, are so golden that it is unreal! This past week we received another referral from our Ward Mission Leaders family and we went over to their house on Wednesday to have dinner and meet their non-member friend! His name is Liam and he is golden!!! He is 18 and is really interested in the church! We taught him a lesson and the Spirit was so strong during the lesson! It was one of the most powerful lessons that I have ever taught or been in while being on my mission! He came to church yesterday and we are going to continue teaching him this week! The Wharemate family came to church as well and they really enjoyed it! We were finally able to teach them last week after not being able to for 2 weeks! They are doing really well and we have re-committed Mia and Shane to be baptized on the 25 of June! Much later than we would have wanted to, but everything will work out!

          So you are all probably wondering who I will be serving with. He is from Utah, he is really tall and he is one of my past companions...actually my first companion in Australia!! ELDER KELSCH, my Trainer!!! I will be serving here in Greenvale with Elder Kelsch and we will be the Craigieburn Zone Leaders together! I am so excited to serve with him again, beyond words can describe! But there is a really cool story that makes us serving together even more exciting! So it all starts when Elder Kelsch got transferred after training me up In Wangaratta! He was transferred down to Tasmania to serve as a Zone Leader with his Trainer, Elder Orrego. Elder Orrego only had one more transfer left on his mission, and he was able to serve it with his "son", Elder Kelsch as Zone Leaders! Well, I will have the same opportunity! Elder Kelsch only has one more transfer left on his mission and he will be able to spend it serving with his "son", aka- me, as Zone Leaders! 

HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO THE WORLD'S BEST BROTHER! Happy 13th Birthday Mitchell! I am so grateful to have such an amazing little brother like you! You may be my little brother, but I look up to you as an amazing example to me! Our family would not be complete without you and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending you to our family! Have fun and keep up the great work! I love you! 

          The Lord really does work in mysterious ways! I am so excited to serve with Elder Kelsch again and to be able to be Zone Leaders together! Dreams really do come true! I had always wished that I would be able to serve with Elder Kelsch again and now I will! I can't wait for all of the amazing experiences and the great success that Elder Kelsch and I will have! This area is ready to be harvested and who better to be able to harvest it with then my Trainer, Elder Kelsch! I love you all and hope you have a great week! Be safe and enjoy all of the great summer activities!

Love,

Elder Wheeler

Filling out paper work is probably the least exciting thing that we have to do as missionaries! 

Australian Post Men all lined up and ready to deliver the mail! Haha

One of the Districts in our Zone!

Letter #44 from Australia

May 22, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

          I have so much to talk about in this email and so little time, so I hope that it all makes sense and that I will be able to fit it all in! This past week was really good for Elder Halsey and me! We really focused on working with and through the members to try and find new people to teach! We have been visiting a lot of the members, teaching them lessons and then asking them for referrals of any non-member family and friends they know that would be willing to listen to the message of the gospel! Through the whole week we received 5 referrals and it was so amazing to see all of the members really help us out! We were able to set up teaching appointments with the referrals in the homes of the members that gave them to us! We will be teaching them all this next week, but we were able to teach one of them this week and it went so well!

          The name of the person who we taught this past week is Shanae. She is a friend with one of the young women in our ward. She has attended church before, with her friends, in the past, but has never been taught. Well we taught her about the Restoration and The Book of Mormon and it went really well! We invited her to be baptized on the 18th of June and she accepted! So now we have three investigators on date! Shane and Mia Wharemate are doing all right! We haven't been able to teach them in about two weeks because they have been so busy lately! They didn't come to church either, but Shanae did! So that was really good! But Brother Wharemate did come to church. He told us that he wanted to come first to get back into it before bringing his kids along. So hopefully they will come next week! 

          I am so happy to be serving in this area and pray that I don't get transferred. We find out transfer news this Saturday! It is so crazy to think that it has already been 5 weeks! This week is the final week of the transfer and it has gone by so fast! I hope I stay and I hope that Elder Halsey stays as well, but he has been in the area for 3 transfers already, so we will just have to wait and find out! 

          I love you all so much and miss you all like crazy! I hope that you all enjoy your final week of school! Congratulations to all of you who graduated from High School and from Seminary! Keep making great choices and stay safe! 

Love,

Elder Wheeler

P.S. Sorry, didn't take any pictures last week, but I will this week!