Letter #37 from Australia

April 3, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

          What an amazing week it has been! The Lord's work is continuing to hasten and move forward! It is such an amazing experience to be on a mission and I love it more and more everyday! I hope that you all enjoyed General Conference this past week! We, the Nation of Australia, get to watch it next weekend, so the 9th and 10th of April! I can't wait to watch it and to learn from our great leaders in the church as well as from the Spirit! Now an update on how the work is going here in the beautiful area of Yarra Valley!

          This past week was really good. We are continuing to work with Mark and he is still on date to be baptized at the end of this month! Is has been able to kick a couple of addictions to the curb and continues to move forward with great excitement and promise! The Fulton family has been on a holiday this past week and is getting back this next week, so the work with them will continue! They too are still set to be baptized in a couple of weeks and they are so KEEN!!! They all have a desire to follow Jesus Christ and to be baptized in the correct way! I am so excited for them! We also started to teach a German couple this past week!

          Some missionaries taught Hubert and Marion, the German couple, in the past, but showed little interest in the church. Well like I said last week in my update, they showed up to church wanting to get married and baptized! Which is a huge step for them cause they have had no desire in the past to do either of them!! We are so excited for them and their great decisions! Their wedding is set for the 7th of April and we are hoping to set a date for their baptism shortly after that. This past week we had our first lesson with them and it was really funny! When we got there, Marion had cooked a huge German feed! So we sat down and started to eat. She kept telling us that we need to eat more and that she wants clean dishes with now food left on them. We ate so much food, and every time we finished a plate of something, she would bring more out of the fridge. Like we ate the entire lamb roast that she made and then once the serving plate was empty, she ran to the fridge and pulled out a beef roast! haha   Let's just say that I didn't eat dinner that night. Luckily we didn't have a meal appointment that night. It went great though!

          The work is great here and I am really excited for the next couple of weeks! This transfer is an 8 week transfer so we will have our transfers in two weeks! I hope that you all have a great week and continue in the great things that you are involved in! I love and am so grateful for all of you and the support and love that you give to me! Be safe and remember to pray and read your scriptures!

Love,

Elder Wheeler

Me, Elder Angar (we were on exchanges that day), Hubert, Marion
and Am. He is a from Thailand and is living with them while he
goes to school! Crazy part is, Am is a member of the Church!!!
It was an awesome lunch, I got to speak the little German and
Thai that I know!

Temple trip this past week was absolutely amazing! It felt so good to be i
n the house of the Lord. I really felt close to my family and was
so grateful for the chance that we had to go!​

Me with the temple! 

My District in front of the temple! I love these Elders!​

April Fools Joke - Not funny

​April 3, 2016

Dear Everyone,

So I am not sure how exactly to tell you this, but here I go... So this past week on Friday, Elder Zimmerman and I were walking down the road and a guy bolted out in front of us and grabbed Elder Zimmerman. We are pretty sure that his motive was to rob us, but without even thinking, I swung and punched the guy in the face. He let go of Elder Zimmerman and took off and we were both okay. But here is the big news. Because of legal complexities and past experiences the mission has had, there is a zero hitting policy for us missionaries. Even in times of self defence. Because I hit the guy, even in self defence, I am being sent home. Please read the attached file before you all freak out. I will talk to you soon and see you soon.

I love you all!

Elder Wheeler

The attached file was this:

APRIL FOOLS!!!

Hopefully you all didn’t freak out or start crying. 

I love you all and hope you can forgive me!

-Elder Wheeler

Mike responded stating that it was April 3rd not April 1st.  Bryce said that he couldn't email on the 1st so he did it in his email today.  He sent his sister, Shaelyn and brother in law, Colten ass well as his sister Nicole in a state of panic.  Mike and I kind of wondered if it was a joke.  So grateful it was.  

Letter #36 from Australia

March 28, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

          Happy Easter everyone! I hope that you all had a great Easter and enjoyed the time that we had to reflect, remember and honor the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ! And if you did, enjoy the chocolate bunnies and eggs too!:) I had a great Easter here in Australia and it was filled with great spiritual experiences and just a tiny bit of chocolate! The Savior’s final week on Earth was a week filled with miracles and a lot of blessings and that is how this past week was for us. It was a week of many miracles and couldn't have happened during a greater time of the year!

          So I will begin with the news of my area. This past week, we were able to meet with the Fulton family and teach them a lesson. We committed Sister Fulton and her daughters Taneille and Sarah to baptism. Her other older daughter, Chloe, wasn't home when we visited so we didn't commit her, yet! But we will when we visit with them next! We were so happy with this miracle but it didn't stop there. We met a couple of times with an investigator named Mark and continued to help him with his addictions. He was scheduled to be baptized on the 9th of April, but we rescheduled it for the 30th of April because we feel he needs more time to prepare! He came to church on Sunday and had a really spiritual and great experience! We met up with Jeremy finally last night and talked with him. He told us that he has been busy working from 8-9 every single day and that his phone is being fixed, hence why we couldn't get a hold of him! He is still very interested in learning more about the church and being baptized, so we were very happy to hear that!

          Want to hear about some more miracles? Well you're in luck cause I have some more! Last Sunday, some former investigators, a German couple, showed up to church out of the blue. We talked to them and introduced ourselves and they told us straight up what they would like. They told us that they would like to be taught again and married by our bishop so that they can be baptized! It was so unexpected, but we told them that we would be more than happy to help them accomplish that all! Well they came to church again on Sunday and we are going to start to teach them this week! Heavenly Father has prepared them for this throughout the years of investigating the church!!

          Last one and probably my favorite! Last week, our zone had 3 investigators with a baptismal date! For the whole zone...3. That isn't that good at all and so we decided, the District Leaders and Zone Leaders, to set a goal to get 14 baptismal dates by the end of this month, so that we could accomplish our goal of baptizing 7 investigators in the month of April. In less than one week, we went from 3 investigators with a baptismal date to 15 investigators with a baptismal date! It was so amazing to see all of the missionaries in our zone work hard and be blessed with the investigators who are prepared to be baptized! It was such a huge miracle and it happened during the week that we celebrate the biggest miracle that has ever happened. I was so happy and proud of my District because we got 8 out of the 15 baptismal dates in the zone! Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and I can bear my testimony of that!

          I hope that you all have a great week and enjoy the sunny weather that you are having! We are just beginning to experience our colder temperatures and I am honestly excited for winter weather! It will be a good reminder of home! I love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Wheeler

Found this little guy on the roof of our car this past week! haha Baby Hunstman spider!​

See, it is a "baby" one! Not even that big. haha​

Letter #35 from Australia

March 20, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

          This week has been a great one but there is not too much to report on. We have had an up and down week with trying to contact our investigators Jeremy and Mark. From the brief visits and conversations that we have had with them, they are doing well and are keeping their commitments to read and pray! They haven't made it to church yet, which is really disappointing seeing that it is the only thing that is holding them back from being baptized! We are doing all that we can with them and we are praying that all will work out with them!!

          We have made some progress with the family that I talked about last week! After helping them move, we called them a couple of days later to just check up on them and see how they were doing. Well when we called them and talked to the Mum, Cassie, she said that they were doing well and that their girls had actually been asking her when we could come over? When we were talking to her on the phone, we asked her straight up, how interested her and her girls would be in taking the discussions and hopefully being baptized. She said that she and the girls are actually really interested and would like to meet up when we can! We were really happy when she told us that and we have scheduled some times this week that we can come over and start teaching them!

          As we approach this Easter Sunday my thoughts and heart are turned towards the Savior, even more than they are during the other times of the year. As I reflect on His final week and what He did during it, I am so grateful that he spent it serving us. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and for His resurrection. Because of it, we have the blessing of being able to be resurrected too and to be reunited with our loved ones who have passed away. As I have had two of my close family members pass away in the past two months, I have had the blessing of being able to pray, study and think about the message of the Plan of Salvation. As I have done this during these trying times and trials that I have experienced over these past couple of months, I have had my testimony strengthened so much. It is now not a testimony, but knowledge that I know it is true. I know that because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His triumphant resurrection, I will see my Uncle, my Great Grandmother and all of my other loved ones who have passed away again. I know this too be true.

          I would invite you all to go online to FollowHim.mormon.org and watch this years Easter video! And for those of you who want to take it a step forward, I invite you to share it on your Social Media pages or with a friend or family member who may not know of this great message that we have. Share it with them and then bear your testimony and knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and Jesus Christ! I promise that this Easter Holiday will be a special one for all of you, if you will do this!

          I love you all and hope you have a great week! Enjoy this time of the year and the time that we have to celebrate the Saviors Atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection! Be safe and love one another!

Love,

Elder Bryce Wheeler

​Selfie so you can all see how chubby I am getting...I hope I'm not!

Made a pasta bake for tea! The process of becoming a man and husband material is
occurring! hah Shout out to my amazing Mum for teaching me how to cook and not
burn the house down! ​

Letter #34 from Australia

March 14, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

          This week has been great, but also challenging and hard. The Lord has given me some trials that I currently have to go through, but I am so grateful for them. I love trials because it is Heavenly Father way of helping me to change and be molded into the man that he wants and needs me to be. That’s a weird way of looking at trials I know, but that is the whole reason why we have trials and challenges in our life. Heavenly Father needs us to change and become better. Although trials and challenges are hard to go through, I know that they are given to us out of pure love from our Father in Heaven.

          The work here in Yarra Valley is going great, but we have had a lot of set backs this week within the work. So our investigator Jeremy didn't make it to church on Sunday and we haven't been able to get a hold of him for about a week! We had to drop his baptismal date because he is two weeks away from it and he hasn't come to church yet. We are really hoping and praying that he will get back to us in the next day or two so that we can continue to help him progress in the gospel. He has a great desire to follow Jesus Christ and to be baptized into the church, so we are really hoping that his desire to do both is still burning. We have followed up with a couple of new contacts that we got a couple of weeks ago, and sadly to say, it didn't work out with them. We met with a couple that seemed really interested in learning about the gospel. They even said they had a friend who was interested and that she was going to come to the first lesson too! We were really excited for it, but when we got into their home and sat down, we realized that we had just walked into a Bible Bashing lesson.

          For two hours we were asked question after question and when we answered, they brought out Bible verses and anti-Mormon materials to "prove us wrong." Ultimately, it ended with us bearing our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and with me politely rebuking them. All I said was that we, as missionaries, have been called to invite others to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and ask Heavenly Father if it is true. We have invited you to do this, and now it is up to you. If you want to find out if it is true follow our invitation. But if you don't want to, then that is okay. But we have done our part as missionaries. After I said that, there was silence in the land for the space of many minutes. Hah. We thanked them for letting us come over and then left. It was good, but not the kind of good that we wanted it to be!!

          A part-member family moved into our area and ward this past week! The Mum and her 3 oldest girls are all not members and are very interested in learning more about the gospel and being baptized. So we are really excited and grateful for that blessing in our lives right now.

          I want to bear my testimony again about the Plan of Salvation. Last Sunday, I lost a woman who was very dear to me and who I love so much! On Sunday night my dear Great Grandma Merle Mills passed away. She was really old and so it was more of a blessing than a trial to my family and me. She was a beautiful woman who had such a profound impact on my and my life. She helped me to grow stronger both in life and in the gospel. She had such great advice and council to give to me whenever I needed some uplifting and encouraging. All of my many memories with her will forever be in my mind and she will always be in my heart. I know that she is in a better place right now and that she has been reunited with her Husband Paul, who I am named after, and her son Boyd. I also know that one day, I will be reunited with her again and know that she will give me a big kiss on my cheek and will embrace me warmly. I know that my Great Grandma lives on and that she is still one of my guardian angels, but now just in spirit form. I love you Grandma Mills.

          I am sorry that this update is so long. I just had a lot to talk about and say this week! I love you all and am grateful for the love and support that you show my family and me! Have a great week and stay safe!

Love,

Elder Wheeler

​Going for the green!! Such a fun day!

Went golfing yesterday for P-Day! ​It was a lot of fun and for only playing twice
within my 8 months on my mission, I played really well! Had the longest drive and
the only birdie of the day out of Brother Bryers, Elder Zimmerman and me!!

Elder Richard Long has finished his mission. Everyone go to his homecoming 
and hear his sweet as 'Stralian accent! Also ask him about me;) Jk! But seriously
 go to his homecoming! I love him so much and he is my brother!!