Missionary work is hard to get done on a holiday

Some of the birthday presents he received.



Wednesday: MY BIRTHDAY!! I recieved all the packages on my birthday. Thanks so much for everyone that contributed! We had the regular district meeting, it was super good. I almost got out of there without them all singing happy birthday to me. It was a failure though. Elder Bayles at the end, got everyone to do it. Dang it Bayles!! Haha. For lunch, we went to Elements, nothing better than a free lunch! (I know... There is no such thing as a free lunch in economics," Elder Bayles pointed out to the waiter, that it was my birthday, so I got free dessert as well. Some turtle cake thing. Yummm! As far as the rest of the day goes, it was quite the struggle when it came to missionary work. Almost all of our appointments fell through, and nobody answered their doors. :(

Thursday: One of my goals for the week was to have a really fun DLT, and thus, it was
accomplished! We had one volunteer blindfolded as we had one holy ghost and all the rest, Satan's angles, trying to mess him up. It was super fun. Representing what it is like for a convert after baptism, trying to get to the temple, without any help. Then we did a different maze. with the help of members, and missionaries. Still was  challenging, but easier.

Friday: We had the opportunity to help one of our Ward Mission Leader's lay sod. It was super cool
to see how loving that neighborhood was, everyone came and flocked to help! A miracle also
happened. It has been storming everyday here for like 3 weeks. This time, the storm went completely around us as we were laying sod. As soon as we were completed, it started to rain. If that isn't a testimony that God has power in all things, I don't know what else!

Saturday: We tried really hard to work, but being Memorial Day weekend, nobody was home. We literally knocked on 25 doors in a row, and none of them answered, members, non-members,
and less actives all alike. But we remained steadfast. Well up until 8:00, then the Christensen Family put on a Birthday Party for us. They gave us each a cake!

Sunday: Dang! The struggle of staying awake!! There were many times, while even in the middle of singing a hymn, I fell asleep while singing. That is how tired I am... However, we did keep pretty busy afterwards, had lesson keep us busy, and awake. Isabelle is still looking good for Saturday :)

Monday: Memorial Day!! Man it was a slow day. We had 2 lessons! Which were really good, however, the rest of the time was a struggle.  We haven't been able to find any new investigators, or even potential investigators since last Monday. But we are doing well. We have 5 on date. So no complaining for us!!

Thanks Ya'll!!

 

Love you!

Elder Wrathall

He went hiking this morning. This is the time lapse video he took.



For FHA we stoned an Elder

This is the pic in the flyer we posted around the Stake.
Like Eldr Bayles tie?
Haha

Wednesday: Yay! Transfers!! It was nice for once to not to get transferred or have my Companion get transferred, so no packing or anything.  However, as Zone Leaders, we have to make sure everything
runs smoothly for the people in the Zone. All was well except for a companionship coming in, they got lost, and we had no way to contact them. They got there eventually though!

Thursday: With the new zone, we had the opportunity to give a short training, then do a get-to-know you, where we passed a ball with questions on it, and people answered them. It was a good fun way :)
Was able to meet with Isabel, she is doing  a lot better at learning! It is great to see! She is getting baptized May 30th

Friday: Indiana has been giving us a hard time. He refuses to admit that he knows that these things are true. He just really wants to be rebellious! He contradicts himself a ton, he just really needs
strong spiritual experiences, so that he would have the testimony of Joseph Smith, "I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I
would offend God, and come under condemnation." (Speaking of the first vision)

Saturday: Service Saturday!! We helped move one of our YSA's family, from 9am-Noon. It was rainy, and super un-organized move. They also have a whole bunch of dogs that would constantly want us to throw the ball for them.... Haha. We also had a lesson with Elaine, who is a member
whom the Stake President promised if we visited, we would see the work increase. She has been pretending to be an investigator. Let me tell you... She has been the most difficult investigator I have
ever worked with. She has a whole bunch of concerns I've never heard of. Haha but it is good, keeps us on our toes.

Sunday: I gave a talk in one of the wards, before I went up to speak, I was told that the Stake President's Son-in-law was in the audience who isn't a member, so I quickly changed the talk to the
Restoration so I can teach him the first lesson. It worked! Met with him the next day and put him on date to work for the 13th of June. Besides that, a lot of people that we were expecting at church weren't even there :( Always sad when that happens.

Monday: We have been really wanting to have more love and unity in the Zone, so we thought we would do a Family Home Afternoon together with the Zone. We put Elder Elder (Yes, that is his name, not a typo) in charge of it, he did an awesome job. He read a scripture about how Satan tries to get us with fiery darts, so he played the role of an investigator, and he gave all of us tennis balls (Representing the darts) then told us to pelt him with them.... Haha yep. For FHA we stoned an Elder. But we did it again, this time had missionaries to help protect him, they has chairs as shield. Then
we pelt him again, but he has been praying, so he has tables set up in front of him. Then again, but he has been reading scriptures, so he had a table to protect him. Then again with fellowshippers with shields as well. Then so on and so forth. It was cool.
I've gotten 1 package from you. Then Kayla's card. 

We have a super busy day tomorrow with appts. Which is a great Birthday, but we are going to celebrate with a family on Saturday for an hour.

I do feel kinda old. No longer a teenager!!   

Yeah, most people here are coming home from mission rather than leaving.

Thanks for the fancy email, haha. Have an awesome week!

Love you!

Elder Wrathall

The Sister missionaries are a lot harder workers than the Elders

Wednesday: We met with our Stake President, and we told him of our goal for the month of May, which is 1 baptism. He immediately responded, "1 in each ward?". We just stared, finally Elder Bayles, "We wish..." He then said, "Well there is one baptism in my house." We both thought, what? Apparently his Son in law is Unbaptized and is living in his house right now, he is going to get us to meet with him, so that is sweet! When correlating, we had a lot of miracle people pop up! :)

Thursday: I guess it was "Make a difference day". So the mission organized service for each zone to do. Our zone, along with another zone in Brigham, cleaned the Brigham Cemetery. That was actually
really fun. I learned quick, that the Sister missionaries are a lot harder workers than the Elders... What's up with that. I saw lots of names in there, but didn't see any Wrathalls :(

Friday:DLT, this is where the stress comes from. There is a part of the DLT meeting that we call "Secret Combinations" It's where it is just the leadership, and we talk about problems in the zone. Yep. There are a lot of problems. The sad thing is, a lot of them have to do with the District Leaders. They are supposed to be the examples!!

Saturday: Started the day off right by doing service for a member, it was raining, but we did weeding, which makes it just easier to weed, but certainly got us dirty. We went to a baptism in our stake, we
taught an 8 year old a baptism lesson, the family was over joyous for what we did for him. They
wanted us to be the witnesses for the baptism. Good family! We had a lesson scheduled with a potential investigator, Sierra, we went, and the dad wasn't there, so we couldn't go in, had to reschedule for tomorrow.

Sunday: Sacrament Meetings were a bit of a struggle.... Had to draw to keep awake, I'll send a picture of my drawings. Haha. Of course, it being mother's day, I got to talk to talk to Mom!!! Only 30 minutes, it was a brief one, but nevertheless, a good one! Met with Sierra, and invited her for the 6th of June!

Monday: Went down to Ogden! Zaxbys!!, haha, we didn't go for just that.... We had Mission Leadership Training. Learned a lot of things on how I can improve to be a better Zone Leader, Then also, we got all the transfer news! All of our District Leaders got released and we got 5 new ones! That is going to help a lot, and two whitewashes happened in our Zone as well. Elder Bayles is still my companion! Thank goodness! There is a ton of changes, which is good!

Love,
Elder Wrathall

"Their" dog

His Sacrament meeting activity.

I am definitely learning a lot of life skills

Hello!
Wednesday: Elder Bayles' Birthday!! In DM, I didn't announce it, because when I have my birthday, I don't like all the attention. However, Sister Hadden started belting out "Happy Birthday". So much for that plan... Haha Elder Bayles' favorite food is Mahi Mahi, so I took him out to Rumbi's and got that for him, I got it for myself, BOGO coupon! Haha, man, Mahi Mahi is good! He also bought himself pineapple upside down cake. And of course, what else do you do as a missionary when it's your birthday? Work!!! Haha

Thursday:DLT, it was a pretty stressful day being a Zone Leader, we caught a whiff at how un-aligned our zone is with the missionary purpose.... Not being a Zone Leader is nice, because you can
say, "Whelp, not my problem! I'm going to go work!" As a Zone Leader, it'smore of, "Dang it, how in the world am I going to fix this." What I have learned on my mission, is people are hard to work with, you can't just tell them, "Stop" and they stop, nope, you got to go in a round about way and inspire them, and uplift them to stop. I am definitely learning a lot of life skills, that is for sure.

Friday: Went on exchanges with Elder Bell, who is one of our District Leaders, during the exchange, we were biking, and we came to this country road. He told me, "There is a house at the very end of
this road, that nobody knows who they are. You down?" "Of course!" So we went, and began our journey, It was only about a mile long road, I learned that they farm coyotes out there though, that is where the picture is from. The house at the end, nobody was home, but it was a really cool house! We left a pamphlet, hopefully it does something.

Saturday: Service from 8am-noon. First started by weeding, weeded for 2 hours, then made a covenant to never weed again in my life... Haha, then after that, it got fun, helped a engaged couple build pallet furniture for the weeding decor or something like that...? I don't know, but it was building furniture. It was free furniture too. So guess what me and my future wife will have as furniture in our house? ;P

Sunday: Miracle Fast Sunday!! We all prayed for miracles to happen in our areas, and guess what, the same day we had a miracle come out way! So we caught word that there has been a 9 year old, who hasn't been baptized, coming to church for 3 months. So we went and met with her and her grandparents, after the restoration, with talking about baptism during, we asked her to be baptized,
she said yes. The grandmother chimed in, "Yeah! She has been begging me for her to be baptized for 2 months." C'mon, why didn't you go grab us earlier.... Well, I guess better now than never.

Monday: Mission Leadership Council down in Ogden, hence, we had to leave our place at 11:00, grabbed some grub at Wendys. MLC was super good, this is where are the Zone Leaders account
for their goals that they set for the Zone. Only 3 out of the 9 Zone's hit their goal, the rest, including us fell considerably short. Now, at a normal MLC, the other Zones would make fun of those that didn't hit their goals, and ridicule them, but what was really cool to see, is that everyone cheered
for each other, and understood, Maybe they didn't hit their goal, but they still helped people come closer to Christ. It was so awesome to see everyone helping each other out, giving good feedback
and all. President Hiers also told us some of the things happening this transfer, he told us of the new
Assistants to the Presidents, and because of one of them, there were a lot of bad feelings toward him,
President, had us sustain him in. When we sustained him, the spirit was so strong! Best MLC I've been to!

Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Wrathall