Letter #96 from Australia

Read letter to find out why letter came on Thursday not Monday!

May 25, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

I am still alive and well. Sorry that I didn't email the usual day, we decided to change our p-day to allow us to go to some really cool markets in the city! The markets aren't opened on Mondays, so we took our p-day today, Thursday! I am doing really well and have had a great week and a couple of days with Elder Kaufusi! We are working so hard and too be honest, aren't finding a lot of success in finding new investigators to teach, but we are still keeping our work ethic high and our faith and trust in the Lord even higher! (See Isaiah 55:8-9) We are still teaching Bobby and his mother Nahid and they are progressing so well it is such a blessing to witness! Just this past week, we had two spiritually packed lessons where the spirit was so strong! And they both have gained a personal witness, through reading and praying about it, of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! It has been so cool to see and I love them both so much! Other than that, not too much has happened over here in Melbourne! I still love my mission and Elder Kaufusi! It was a weird transition going from crazy BFF Elder Wiser as my companion to Elder Kaufusi who is just so chill and quiet! (of course in a good way!) I have definitely toned down my attitude and am a lot quieter myself, if you can even imagine that! haha

Well, there is a little news that I can share. So President Vidmar has changed our p-day as a mission from Mondays to Wednesdays, so if you email me and don't get a reply on my Monday, don't be offended! I will get to it on Wednesday!:) Had some great p-days these past two weeks and have done some really cool things, so look at the pictures for some cool shots and moments here in the land down under!

HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MY LITTLE SISTER NICOLE FOR GRADUATING THIS WEEK FROM GOOD OLD WEBER HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!! I love you lots Coley and am so proud of you! You have matured so much and are so great and I couldn't be more proud to call you my sister! 

I love you all and hope that you have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Wheeler

This is Louis Meurs who is the mother of Peter F. Meurs, the
General Authority. She and her late husband Fred, were two
converts that my Grandfather Jones had the opportunity of finding,
teaching and baptizing while serving his mission here in
Melbourne back in the 50's. I had the amazing opportunity to
go meet and visit with her and her daughter, Julie. It was so
amazing and a huge testimony builder of the power of missionary work
and the effects that we can all have on generations to come!

Me and Elder Kaufusi driving around Mornington Peninsula
looking good!

Some amazing sunset beach pictures that we got! My first beach that I
 have ever been to in Australia! And it only took me 23 months! ha

Some selfies with the boys!

Just some funny random pictures from the week! 

The Victoria Markets in the City of Melbourne today with the boys!
And Elijah and Nora Costigan and Christian Macrae came along too!

Letter #95 from Australia

May 14, 2017

Dear Family & Friends,

What a great week it has been! I have loved this week and it has gone by so fast, as usual! haha Firstly, just a huge Happy Mother's Day shout out to all of your Mother's, Grandmother's and Motherly figures out there! I am eternally grateful for the wonderful Mother that I have and for all that she has done and continues to do for me! Thank you as well to all of the great women in my life who have helped shape me to who I am today! I love you all!

So as far as the work goes, things are going really well in the area! We have seen some amazing miracles this past week and found 3 new investigators! It was a really productive week and we were able to get a lot of work done, despite having a lot of meetings to attend! So to share a little bit of the miracles that we had this week! So one of our investigators Bobby told us on Saturday that he didn't want to be baptized anymore. We were pretty sad about it and weren't sure what went wrong, but we just trusted in the will of our Heavenly Father! Well, the next day, Sunday, Bobby came to church and brought his mother with him! She had apparently been asking him for a couple of weeks to take her to church so she could meet us! Well we taught the two of them during church and the spirit was so strong in the room! We invited both of them to be baptized on the 10th of June and they both said YES! Bobby said that he did some thinking about it after our lesson and realized that he does want to be baptized! It was such a miracle! ha Well another little miracle was meeting up with the brother of a recent convert in our ward! His name is Fernando and he is from Columbia! He told us that he would like to learn more about the church and so we are now teaching him! He has good English, but luckily we have a couple of Spanish speakers in our ward to help! ha

Other than that, things went really well this past week! I am absolutely loving my mission and can't get enough of it! President Vidmar said that I have the option of extending for an extra 30 days past my release date...but I figured my family wouldn't be too happy if I did that! haha I love Elder Kaufusi so much and he is the best ever! He is so good and we are really getting along so well! Blessings! I hope that you all have a great week! Know that I miss and love you all! Take care and keep up the great work that you are all doing! 

Sincerely,

Elder Wheeler

Skyping the family for Mother's Day! I love this crazy crew so much!

A cute Husky that we found while tracting! She loved playing with us!

Got the death letter this past week...haven't opened it yet!
Plane tickets and itinerary are all inside..

​Beautiful Australian autumns! 

On exchanges with Elder Olan, one of our AP's!
We helped to move some missionaries! ha

The companionship unity is too strong!
Matching ties and scarfs! ha

The Zone with President and Sister Vidmar and Zone Conference!

Elder Kaufusi ladies and gentleman! hah

Made us dinner the other night...ha don't think I have improved 

on my cooking skills! ha Plating credit goes to Elder Kaufusi, 

he turned my rubbish looking dinner into something extraordinary!

Letter #94 from Australia

May 7, 2017

Dear Family & Friends,

What a great week it has been! It was filled with transfer day, and all of the fun that comes with it! Elder Wiser and Elder Watanabe are off to bigger and better companions and new areas! It was sad to see my 'W' companions leave me, but it was so great to be joined with Elder Kaufusi! He is so great and is a gun missionary! Let me tell you about this kid that I call my soa! (companion in Samoan.) He is half Tongan and half white person, haha and is from SLC Utah! He went to Brighton High School and played football and basketball for the school! Now, here is where it gets really cool! He has a full ride scholarship to BYU for football and will be attending there after he gets home from his mission next year! He has been out just under 10 months and is such a great missionary! He is so humble about everything and is such a hard worker! I have really gotten to know him this past week and I love him so much! We get along great and work really well together! 

This week was a good one for us and we were able to find a new investigator! His name is Emanuel and we will now be working with him! Bobby is doing really well and we met with him again this past week and he is SO KEEN to be baptized! That is all he could talk about! haha He has been keeping commitment and has been reading in the Book of Mormon and praying about it all! He told us that he is beginning to believe that it is all true! We haven't gotten in contact with Frans and so we are pretty sad about that! But, we have faith that the Lord will help us find him again! Other than that, it was a pretty normal week! Nothing to big to report on! 

I hope that you all have a great week and keep up the great work! Enjoy Mother's Day this coming Sunday and give your mum a big hug and a kiss! Enjoy all that the week brings and if you are graduating from school soon, actually go to school these final couple of weeks!;) haha I love you all and miss you all heaps! 

Love,

Elder Wheeler

Mind my gross undone hair today! Pday is also
haircut day! haha

Paparazzi following Elder Kaufusi! 

The new Mighty Maroondah Zone!

Zone morning exercise and personal study this morning!

MLC this past week! We lost three from our intake this last transfer,
they are now training for their last transfers!

Had some new missionaries spend their first night in the mission
with us...they were all so tired, it was kinda funny!:) 

Elder Wiser, me, Elder Watanabe and Elder Meyer! Hah,
passing our son from two Pleasant View/Weber High boys, to another
Pleasant View/Weber High boy!