Could things get smaller?

Wednesday: Things have drastically changed in our area, since now we only cover 1 stake rather than 3. Our area is like 1/8 of what it used to be. It is now literally 4 blocks. I am pretty sure it is the smallest missionary proselyting area in the world.... Haha. With that, it is hard to keep busy when we don't have lessons. We still contact on Campus.

That's our area, except half of the bottom right block we don't cover, and the bottom two blocks we don't cover. So... super small.

Thursday: Because other missionaries took over our stakes, we have been having "Passover" lessons, meaning... They are taking our investigators. Man it is really sad sometimes to pass over investigators, because you know they are progressing and they are going to get baptized.

Friday: This day was a great day. We finally had a lesson with Charlotte after 9 days without. We were super worried going in there because seems like she had been avoiding meeting with us. So we thought she might not have been interested anymore. But! We had a super awesome lesson, and in it, our fellowshippers asked what was holding her back from being baptized. She thought... And thought... And thought. But nothing came. So we invited her for next Saturday, and she felt the spirit confirm to her that that is good! Yay!!!

Saturday: We had lessons throughout the afternoon, which was sweet, but come the night there was nothing to do, and nobody was home. We taught Mack a Recent Convert lesson, but had a plan of salvation drawing contest, I will send you my drawing :) Then we had a lesson with a new investigator, Stephanie, who when we knocked the door, her Boyfriend answered, so I was worried that they were living together, but nope! They aren't even when they are engaged too! Yay!! They were pretty interested, but we can only meet with them once a week for these first three weeks they said, because they are so busy :( Later in the week, they texted us asking if they could have their friends come to who are interested! Sick!!!

Sunday: A Day full of meetings... 11 hours of church this time, We had a Sunday Night Devotional with Elder Brent Nielsen, he talked a lot about trials, and how trials is the purpose we came to earth. Good talk for college students. We had dinner with Jorden our investigator, she is such the nicest gal! She knows how to bake too! She made a chocolate peanut butter cake. It was super good. Rich but good. She is excited for her baptism next week! :)

Monday: The afternoon was rough because we had no lessons, well it fell through anyways. Come the night, it was very busy :) We had Charlotte's Baptismal Interview, she did awesome! Had little Caesar's twice for dinner. That was... gross. Then had a super good lesson with Eric. He understands everything besides grace :/ I feel like he has true intent though, and I believe that he will get an answer to his prayers :)

Thanks for the email! Love you!

Love,

Elder Wrathall

To see if he could...

Success I guess.

Friends together again.

Elder Wrathall and Elder Giles together

Transfer News: We are both staying together!! We will be getting Elder Lowell and his son will be living in our apartment as well! We still aren't sure what exactly we cover.... Because they made 2 new areas on USU. 

Wednesday: I'm sure we did something cool, I just don't remember, ;)

Thursday: We started to teach a NM that isn't even in our area, because our bishop wanted us to... We are being forced to poach!! Haha We'll hand them over to the right  missionaries, but we got to talk to bishop about it. He is dating someone in our stakes, and they are wanting to get married. So I guess that is why bishop wanted us to teach them. He is pretty hard to teach though, not very humble, comes from a Catholic background so he has a lot of that doctrine in mind.

Friday: Friday's are a lot harder on Campus, seems like college students don't really want to spend their weekend nights hanging out with the missionaries and being taught. (What is wrong with them?) so we only had 1 lesson. The rest of the day was good old finding efforts. Campus is pretty barren on Friday afternoons, so we resorted to visiting members and giving them just short spiritual thoughts and asking for referrals.

Saturday: Watched General Conference over at our senior couple the Wilsons, they are such a sweet people, I love them so much! Priesthood session was super good, funny story about that. USU had a home football game going at the same time, so sadly, our priesthood session was very small. However, God has his hand over all, when Priesthood Session started, a storm came over the stadium with lightning and all, so they delayed the Football an hour and a half, about the same time that Priesthood was, so those that made the right decision of going to Conference could attend both! :) God is cool!

Sunday:Watched General Conference over at the Wilson's again! President Monson's talk was super powerful! Sad he is having so much health problems :( Of course, the best way to finish of the general conference day? Lessons! We had 5 lessons after. Kelton was one of them, recently just married but wants the gospel in his marriage :) I only got to teach him that one time, because we don't cover married people.

Monday: We had a good amount of lessons today! 6! sadly, one of them, a sister whom we are teaching, we talked to the Relief Society President about. Turns out she is actually a member who has been coming out to church. I guess she has just been messing with us, making us think she is an investigator. That's pretty lame. We met with Jorden! She was awesome! She went down to conference, and she felt like she needs to be baptized this month! So she is working towards the 24th, and she is so solid for that date!

Ponderize was probably my favorite talk, by Elder Durrant. You could just tell he was a mission president :)

 Fine, I'll see if I can get something unique.

Thanks mom!

Love,

Elder Wrathall

PS I get to see Elder Giles right now! I'm hopefully going to go to a teaching appt. with him right now! Elder Giles is Dallin's good friend from home although his family moved to Oregon this year. 

He said he just sat down and that why the picture is blurry and his eyes are closed but a picture is a picture!

September Coming to an End

Wednesday: Met with Ali! She is such a nice cool girl, she is actually studying religion for her major. She really wants to learn more about the church, but she doesn't feel like she would want to join, I asked her though, "if you  came to know this is God's church, would you be baptized?" And she said yes, of course! Who would say no to that? So she is working towards the 24th of October to be baptized.

Thursday: Had a lesson With Charlotte at the temple grounds! That was a really cool experience, taught about the temple obviously. Charlotte is being a bit stubborn, haha, we invited her to work towards the 3rd of October but she doesn't like that date, she told us she wants to set her own date. So what we are going to do is to tell her to go to conference asking, "Should I be baptized this month?" That way she sets her own date, but in a sense of urgency.

Friday: I'm having faith decreases in Weekly planning's! This is the second weekly planning session we have had this transfer where one of our investigators drop us during it! We just picked her up on Monday, and she dropped us :/ Later, we had a lesson with Mary, who wants to be baptized, but she is from a polygamist family, so she has to get first presidency approval, so she is going to meet with President Allred. 

Saturday: We had no lesson's throughout the day, and Lexi's baptism was scheduled for 8:30 pm, so the day seemed to drag on. Lots of door knocking, my fingers are getting stronger! ;) Lexi's Baptism was amazing, super spiritual, President Allred came to it, which was the first time I have had that with him being President. I was worried that Elder Florschutz might get nervous when we did our First Vision presentation, but he did awesome! It was funny, when Lexi saw the font, she was like, "Oh! It's a big bathtub!!" Haha.

Sunday: We had the confirmation of Lexi happen during the sacrament, that was really cool because Elder Florschutz was the one that was performing it! It was his first time doing it :) It was super spiritual. Right after the Sacrament Meeting the Stake President came up to us and said, "How is a baptism looking for next weekend?" Solemnly responding I said, "Not so good, the girl we have working towards it isn't feeling good about it." He completely rebuked us saying, "Why don't you have a baptism this next weekend, you need to be getting 10 to 20 new investigators per week added into your teaching pool" I was a bit shocked by that... We normally get 2 investigators a week, I was pretty happy with that...

Monday: We had a lesson scheduled with Mack, she brought a non-member friend with her! It was sure cool! Sadly the friend doesn't live in our boundaries, so we don't get to teach her :/ But such a cool missionary opportunity for Mack! :) Our lesson with Jorden later in the day went well, she feels good about being baptized, but still doesn't have that overwhelming desire for it, and that is what she wants... That is difficult to work with, hopefully this upcoming conference will be perfect for that!

We don't get to go to any of the sessions :/ Our new mission president put a stop to that, sad. Especially because usually in the mission, when it is your last Conference on the mission, you get super good seats! I think he is in denial because this is his last General Conference on his mission. Hopefully he realized it before Conference.

Thanks for the email! 

Love,

Elder Wrathall

A mock ward council with Elder Ballard

Wednesday: Mack had her interview to be baptized, she passed with flying
colors! As expected, she is such a wonderful gal! We did quite a lot of street
contacting on campus, which really makes you realize how many members there
really are, it is rare when you talk to a non-member. Ran into Elder Andrus,
who was in my first Zone when I came in the mission, that was pretty cool!

Thursday: USU has been pretty good at not having lessons fall through,
but we do get the occasional bail. The other missionaries have set up
an appointment in our area twice, with the same person, but both times she fell
through. It's lame! We really want to meet her!! The rest of the day went well
though, and our appointments went through. Well Riley, who we have been asking
her to pray towards Oct. 10th, told us she prayed and got her answer for
January to be baptized.... What? Haha

Friday: Had a lesson with Jorden, she has a complete opposite
situation than Mack. Mack has everything bad going for her to accept
this gospel, but she does anyways. Jorden has everything good going
for her to accept this gospel, but she doesn't. Jorden has the concern
that she wants to learn more before being baptized. She knows
everything that we teach her already, she just needs to commit!

Saturday: Mack's Baptism!! I had the awesome privilege, because Mack
asked me to, to baptize her. It was pretty close to where we almost had
to do it again, because her legs came up, but there was a moment she was all
underwater, so it is all good! Afterwards she bore her testimony, and it was a
powerful testimony, best one I have heard in a while! Then later on, we had the
opportunity to hear from M. Russell Ballard, and Elder Clayton. They came to
the mission for a mission tour. We all got to shake their hands.

Sunday: Because just the mission tour with M. Russell Ballard wasn't enough, when we
got to church, the Stake President called us in, and told us that we need to go
to a mock ward council with Elder Ballard. So we had two meetings with him!
Spent the weekend with Elder Ballard :) Haha. They just focused really heavily
on Sabbath observance. Mack was confirmed, she hates attention, and that was
all that she got during that whole church block, kinda felt bad for her, but
that is the ward's job to do that :) Haha

Monday: We had meetings all throughout the day, can't get better than
that! We got a new investigator, her name is Megan, she is dating a
member, and she is looking for the true church. Something really cool,
is they have been dating for two years, but she is encouraging him to
go on a mission! How often does that happen!?  We split up for a lot
of lessons, all of the ones that I went to fell through, Elder
Florschutz's lessons all happened though! Lucky duck! Haha

Thanks for the email!



Love,

Elder Wrathall 

What a wonderful week!!

Elder Rangel is home now :'(  (I'm guessing that this is this picture)

What a wonderful week!!

Wednesday: Meet with our new investigator Riley for the first time.
She told us, when we were going over the Restoration, that she had
actually been to Palmyra, and to The Sacred Grove. After we recited
the first vision to her, she told us that she knew that Joseph Smith
is a true prophet. It's not everyday that you get an investigator who
has a testimony of Joseph Smith already. She likewise to a lot of our
investigators, just doesn't feel ready to be baptized.

Thursday: The night before, we got a text saying, "Hello, this is
Emisa". I responded saying, "Hello Emisa, this is the missionaries, is
there something that we can help you with?" She called us right after
then told us, "Hey, I haven't been coming to church for a while...
because of reasons..." Haha, did we just turn into the missionary
confession line? We met with her today, she feels guilty because of
a transgression. She was baptized just a month ago. It was cool that
she contacted us.

Friday: We've been riding our bikes more, but man, I feel Elder
Florschuts is the embodiment of my earlier self in the mission. I
remember how many bike problems that I had earlier in the mission, now
Florschutz is getting it. I don't think we rode our bikes a single time
where something didn't happen to Elder Florschutz bike. From the chain coming
off, to flat tires.... So many flat tires. Sadly, in the morning, we got a text
back from one of our investigators, who we texted a couple days earlier, she
said to us that she doesn't want to meet anymore, because she wants to stick
with her Buddhist faith. We tried to convince her to meet with us again, but
sadly, no avail.

Saturday: Had a lesson with Mack, she is still being reviled by her
mom. So sad how many people we teach, they know that the gospel of
Jesus Christ is true, but their parents don't agree. Therefore interjecting
their progression. True is Matthew 10:34-36 "Think not that I am come to send
peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a
man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and
the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they
of his own household. "I have seen the fulfillment of this doctrine repeatedly
over the course of my mission.

Sunday:We only had 8 hours of church this Sunday!! Woot! Mack, after
Sacrament, came out, you could tell that she had been crying. She
comes up to us and says, "THIS SATURDAY! We are doing it!" I was like,
What.. She had felt the spirit so strong in Sacrament Meeting that she
is determined to be baptized this next Saturday! Miracles! We had a lesson
at 3 with Charlotte, one of our investigators, she moved from the Philippines
when she was 14, her parents have joined the church already, now she feels like
she wants to join as well. She is more concerned about the "When" rather than
the "If".

Monday: Mondays are always busy days up at Campus, we started to
street contact up there, ran into a return missionary Elder Stalder
who was in my first zone. It was cool to see him, he didn't have any
referrals for me though... What the!! Haha. We had a lesson with a
Less-Active, who he parties hard, but what is really cool is he wants
to change! We invited him to meet with his bishop this Sunday, he said
that he would. He told us he has to drink 3 bottles of Tequila before
he even feels buzzed.... I thought that would normally kill a guy.

For the week we had 17 lessons, 2 new investigators, and 7 come to
church. Super good numbers, such a blessing to be able to be working
with all these people.

Love

Elder Wrathall

It just keeps getting better and better!

Wednesday: We had Zone Conference, that went to 8am-3pm. It was about
the Restoration, and they went into very large detail about it, such
as the Great Apostasy. It was suer cool, because it was so different
than from any other Zone Conference that I have had. Afterwards, we
were lacking a ride, so we asked President Allred if he was able to
give us a ride. He was, but along the way he took us to "Sonic" and
got us Milkshakes. What a good mission president! Haha.

Thursday: A day with no teaching appointments is a hard day in the
mission. I don't know how those 3rd world country missionaries do it,
where they get like no lessons. God knows me well, and put me in this
mission for a reason.

Friday: Mack! Our investigator who is working towards the 19th to be
baptized, has been receiving a lot of persecution from her Mom, about
joining the church, just because her Mom from Illinois is un-aware of
the church teachings and whatnot. It got to the point, where her Mom
won't talk to her anymore. To make things even harder for Mack, the
19th is when Her Mom was planning to come out to visit with her. Mack
prayed about it though, and she feels strongly that she needs to be
baptized that day. I hope that her mom will come to the baptism. By
the divine guidance from God, we had Kellie, who is a recent convert
of 9 months, come to the lesson with her Mom, that when Kellie was
deciding to get baptized, her Mom was super strong against it. But now
with a change of heart, her Mom is getting baptized Nov. 7th. They
were both a huge support for Mack!

Saturday: Went out to lunch with the amazingly awesome Christensen's!
Went to Angie's ("Where the locals eat") Sadly we didn't have any
teaching appointments this day, however we met up with Ward Mission
Leaders. One of which said there was a girl in their ward that was
from a polygamy family down in south Utah, but she doesn't agree with
that way, and she wants to be baptized.

Sunday: Of course we had the 10 hours of church. Afterwards we met
with Vivian, the french speaker. She has been receiving a lot of
persecution from her family about going to this church. We brought
Elder Sutton, because he is from Canada, and knows French.
Nevertheless, it still took like 20 minutes each principle that we
taught, it is such a long process! She has a real desire to learn
more though, which is really cool. The aunt and uncle she is living with
are kicking her out of the house because of her desire. :(

Monday: We had the opportunity to meet with Viki Xiao, who obviously,
by her name, is from China, but she didn't want to take the
discussions in Mandarin, so we are meeting with her. We met her at
church on Sunday. She is so prepared, she doesn't know it.... but she
is! When we invited her for the 26th to be baptized, she was like, "I
don't feel prepared to be baptized, let me prepare." We were like,
"What are you going to do to prepare?" "I need to pray, and find out if
God is really there, and I need to read the scriptures to know if
they are true." "Yes! You do that Viki!" Haha

I am loving it out here on my mission!
Hope everything else is well for all of you! :)

Miss you a ton too! Not to much longer, that is for sure.

Love,

Elder Wrathall 


This is how Elder Florschutz studies.... Haha

This could be the best week of my mission!

September 1, 2015

This could be the best week on my mission.... First, my companion is Elder
Florschutz, from Wrangell, Alaska. He is 18, worked as a commercial fisherman,
nevertheless quite the nerd.... Haha. So we get along well!

Wednesday: Transfer Day!!! Elder Neilsen went on up to Smithfield. I
went to go pick up my Son. Elder Florschutz. Turns out the Lord
changed his mind. I got an English Speaking missionary. Which was a
very pleasant surprise. Went through some trainings by people in the
mission office. Got to the apartment, right off the bat did some
role-playing to see where his skills are at. Went right off to
tracting. Miracles happened though. Our Ward mission leader set up a
NM lesson, who Elder Florschutz was able to invite to be baptized. She
said "I don't know" Which is a good first lesson response. Elder
Forschutz was able to invite someone to be baptized on his first day!

Thursday: We had a bishop call us up and tell us that a young lady was
coming in to see him, he told us that she was bringing a friend that
wanted to meet with us. We met her! Her name is Mack. She is from
Illinois and doesn't know hardly anything about the church, but she
went to Church on Sunday. We invited her to be baptized the
19th of September, she said that she will work toward it. She said she
knew there was a reason why she felt like she needed to come to USU, and
she told us she thinks this is the reason!

Friday: Since even the 2nd day of Elder Florschutz being out in the
field we have been going on splits. I'm throwing him out into the work
just like my trainer did. He is doing an awesome job, hasn't
complained about it at all.

Saturday: Move in day!! So many people were moving into campus, we
left our apartment at 8:00 to help those whom were moving in. We
helped many people. Wasn't to difficult though, because college
students generally don't really have much.... Sad but true. Haha.
We got to know lots of people. Campus put on a chocolate slip n slide.
That was interesting to watch. I was tempted to go down it. Just think
of the mad trust from the college students if I did! A missionary in
full proselyting clothes going down a chocolate slip n slide. Before I
was able to think of it too long, the slip n slide broke... I guess
God didn't want me to. Haha

Sunday:We had 10 hours of church meetings this day. I think I might
have just made Elder Florschutz not want to be on a mission anymore...
Haha JK. Afterwards we had the opportunity to meet with a girl from
the Ivory Coast! She doesn't speak hardly any English, she speaks French.
So we had like 4 translators/fellowshippers there. It was super hard to teach
someone we can't understand, and going through translators gets rid of a lot of
the spiritual aspects of the lessons. At the end of it all, she said she would
pray about meeting with us again. Hopefully she gets the right answer!

Monday: Another miracle day! We went on splits again, but I talked to
a bishop of a ward and he said that they had a non-member fill out a pink
form (A form that is used to request membership records) and under the question
"Convert or Child of Record" She checked "Convert" then put beside it, "In
pending" Haha. Got to meet with her the same night and invited her to be
baptized, she is working towards the 26th of September! :)

Elder Florschuts lives in a very rural area, so he isn't used to city
things at all. This morning we were taking the bus. We were standing
up. Elder Florschutz was just getting thrown all over the place when
that bus was moving. I was laughing probably way to hard. Freak, this
mission life is the best!

It's good to be busy! Keeps you out of trouble right?

Thanks for the email!

Love you!!

Elder Wrathall