Letter #9 from Australia

So sorry friends and family.  I know this letter is from two weeks ago.  I thought this uploaded, but it would never show up on the blog itself so I have kept trying.  It is being posted really really late.  You will get two posts for the price of one. Enjoy!

September 20, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

It is springtime here in Australia and that means a couple of things...Heat, Spiders, and more heat!! This week has been a very sunny one and a very good one for Elder Kelsch and me. We did a lot of service and met a lot of new 8 legged friends;) Haha Don't worry, just little ones that are not too poisonous. We were only attacked a couple of times. While we were weeding one day, Elder Kelsch decided to pick up this egg sack looking thing, and a wolf spider jumped on his hand (only a small one, about the size of a 50 cent piece.) He quickly brushed it off (while screaming like a little girl). But then quickly laughed about it. I on the other hand...(haha get it, on the other hand...;) got bit by an ant...on my hand. Which you are probably laughing about right now, but it hurt, okay? So have a little sympathy for me;) Just Kidding. But no, it did hurt and I do have a little bite mark on my hand but I should survive. No sign of any ant powers yet, but I will keep you all updated;) Since it is just barely warming up, we will only see small spiders, but once it is the end of summer...the small spiders become the big ones. So I will definitely be looking forward to that, especially if I am still out here in the Bush by the end of the summer. 

The work is really coming along right now. Elder Kelsch and I are still working with our investigators and the less active members and they are all doing well. Some of the less actives came to church yesterday, so that was a really good sign. We still have a lot of work to do with our investigators because they aren't keeping their commitments, but we are very excited for this next week and all of the blessings and miracles that we will see. We got a new investigator this week, which was very exciting!!! It was actually a really cool miracle, the way that we found him. 

So we received a referral about a week and a half ago. (a referral is when someone gives you the name and contact info of someone that you can go and visit) Sometimes referrals work out and sometimes they don't, but we had faith that this one would work out. So the persons name was Warren Love. When we knocked on his door, he answered and talked to us, but only for about 2 mins cause the Football game was on. (Australian rules football. Not American Football) We were never able to fully tell him who we were and what it is that we do, since he didn't talk to us for a long time.  He asked if we could come back some time during the week. We never asked for his name, because we already knew it...so we thought! So we went back after a couple of days and he answered the door and greeted us. We asked how his day was and he said that it was good and then asked if we were going to come in or not. (Which was a miracle since he didn't really know who we were.) We went in and he offered us a drink and we sat down and talked with him. After getting to know a little bit about each other, we shared the message about the restoration and he was really interested. As we were leaving, we asked what his name was and he said...Michael MulQueen!!! Not Warren Love!!! It was crazy! We have no idea how it happened (cause we went to the right house) but we had the wrong guy!! Haha. That was a huge miracle and we were so grateful that it happened. 

I truly am grateful for all of the blessings and miracles that we receive on a daily basis as missionaries. Whether it is having a meal show up on our doorstep when we are out of food. Or having a referral work out and turn into a new investigator. I know that my Heavenly Father provides and blesses us daily. I have never been happier in my entire life, than I am right now on a mission. I absolutely love being a missionary and love all of the good and hard times that we have. I heard this quote this week and I love it and it definitely relates to the mission life..."At times of the biggest adversity, is when the biggest miracles happen." 

Thank you all so much for everything! I miss and love you all so much! Be good people and do all that you can to receive the blessings that Heavenly Father has in store for you.

Love,

Elder Wheeler

Selfie in the car. (This is what happens when you get bored as a missionary while on long car rides to meetings.)

Karyn Wright (a member) went to Shepperton and while she was up there she went to an American sweets shop. She bought us both a Twinkie and a box of Lucky Charms cereal!!! 

It is a fish-n-chips kind of a day!! Oh and don't forget the Australian Cheeseburger with the "lot" on it. The "lot" includes: Bacon, lettuce, beet root and a fried egg. It is very very good!!!