My soul hath been redeemed‍ from the gall of bitterness and bonds‍ of iniquity

Well, Christmas was absolutely amazing. It was definitely weird opening my presents up all by myself, while my companion was regretting opening his a few weeks earlier.

Christmas was definitely different, but it was nice to see all the different traditions that people had.

It was also 60 degrees here. Really quite warm! We got to play a little football with a family! That family is pure aggie fans! What was the weirdest was when I found there was a rivalry between BYU and Utah State all the way out in Oklahoma!

A few days after Christmas we got snow finally!!! Yep, snow's still cold.

Last night was a unique experience. We got a call from one of our investigators, and he was saying that he doesn't feel worthy. He was just saying that it was nice to know us, and that he doesn't want to take the lessons, but we were able to talk to him. My companion and I both bore our testimonies over the phone, and we read a few scriptures with him. The mistakes of his past were in his mind. While we read a scripture with him about Alma the Younger, one of my favorite scriptures of the Atonement, which reads:  29 My soul hath been redeemed‍ from the gall of bitterness and bonds‍ of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked‍ with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained‍ no more.

That scripture rings so true in my mind. The changes that the atonement can bring in our lives are wonderful. That's our message to the world. God loves us. He knows us. He shows that love.

Love you

 

Elder Wheelwright

Merry Christmas y'all!!!

Merry Christmas y'all!!!

Missionary work is amazing during Christmas! Everyone has their mind turned toward Christ, especially in Oklahoma. People are not afraid to declare their moral standards and what church they go to... Especially what church they go to!

I got a new companion this last week! His name is Elder Stephen! He's from the Marshall Islands. (If y'all don't know where it's at...., look it up:)) I think President wants me to learn Marshallese or something. My last companion was a Marshallese speaking missionary, and now I just got a native speaker. There is only 4 Marshallese speakers in our mission! (by the way, the Marshallese people came here because we nuked their island as a testing ground, and slowly came to Oklahoma and Arkansas.) Bit of a history lesson, but it's cool! So, apparently this Christmas, it is not going to be a white Christmas! It's supposed to be 60 that day!! crazy, right?

Well, this week has been amazing! I finally got to drive a car!!!! I haven't since I've been on my mission, so when I hopped behind the wheel, I felt like I was 15 again learning how to drive. But, it turns out it's like riding a bike.

Hey, I have run out of emailing time. Sorry! A  guy was just talking to me for a while about the Gospel, and we only get an hour on the computer. I'll talk to y'all more on Skype. I love you all. This church is true. (The guy I was talking to a few seconds ago was a minister. Ha, ya, sometimes we agree to disagree with people, because all they need is that calm assurance that the spirit provides in each one of our lives.)  People here are amazing.

Love you

Elder Wheelwright

Tornado!!!!

Well, Ya. Tornado!!! :)

So, all missionary apartments have a carbon monoxide detector. We were sleeping nice and peaceful, and suddenly Elder Bess woke up, which of course woke me up. Apparently the alarm was going off! At 4 in the morning!!!! So, we're like, oh no, we got to leave. So we go outside, call our mission president, and luckily there was an empty apartment we could go to to finish sleeping the night. We go there in our pajamas, blanket, and pillow at 4 in the morning and it's soooooo cold outside! We wake up in the morning, go back to our apartment, and test the carbon monoxide alarm. It's still beeping, so we call the housing management. They then proceeded to tell us to the utter astonishment of us that that just means that the alarm was out of battery! Ha!

Well, This week has been an absolute wonderful week!! Yesterday we were out knocking doors, and it started to hail like crazy! Then it started to rain really hard, and pretty soon the streets turned to water! It was amazing! Then the tornado sirens started to go off! I got soooooooooooo excited! We called our zone leaders and asked them if the sirens were supposed to go off (because it wasn't windy at all) on a Sunday at 5:15. They said "nope" so we proceeded to walk back to the church. When we got about 100 feet from the church, the tornado sirens started to wind down. Darn! So close! Turns out it was waaaayyyyyy east of us, and Edmond never gets tornadoes! But during the siren time, you could just see people coming out of their houses like "ooo, where's the tornado!" I was surprised no one had a lawn chair sitting outside watching. Well, gotta get going! Sorry the letter is so short! The Lords blessed us with many a miracle this week!!!!!!!!!! Amazing!!!!!!!!!

Letters are not a scary thing to write ;)

So this Christmas we are very blessed because I can Skype!!!........the problem is, I don't know how to. But, It's still awesome! We have three meals that day with members, and I can Skype at any one of those places. Whatever time is convenient for you, I can do. Just maybe send some instructions on how to Skype. Also, remember we are an hour difference. So when you give me some times, do it according to Oklahoma time, I'll email you what time to do it, and we'll arrange all of that.

I am transferring to another apartment in our same apartment complex on Wednesday.But ya, tell everyone that letters are not a scary thing to write ;) I loved the letter from Rachel and am planning on writing her back today. Also, I am getting a new companion this next Wednesday. Elder Stephen. He is a Marshallese speaking elder, just like Elder Bess, except Elder Stephen is a native. Apparently president wants me to learn Marshallese...? I don't know. Any word of Ipads for our mission yet? I figure they'd tell you before us. We were promised them by the end of the year. So we asked president Walkenhorst "have you heard anything about the ipads". His reply was "Nope, I have not." Ha, so yep!

Elder Wheelwright

HMM, My week

Hmm, my week. I will start forwards! Well, if I can remember it. That's the problem. I have such a bad memory that I literally forgot what I did most of the week. Good thing I have a journal, right? I'll try to bring that next time so It'll spark my memory. 

Hmm, Monday............... I'll just keep pushing period till I remember....................... Oh, ya! We played basketball for pday! That was fun! I'm still not any good at basketball, so no one passes it to me, but I'm starting to prove myself. Tuesday.........we taught some lessons......we biked..... we ate some food......ha, that's sad, but that's basically all I remember. On Tuesdays a service missionary in the area comes out with us. He's fun, but rather quiet. Reminds me of Will, the kid in (i think it was fifth grade) that was my friend but didn't talk to me, or anyone else. But, the missionary here does talk, and is getting out of his shell. Ah, yes, I remember a little more! On Tuesday my companion went with the service missionary while I went with a member on splits. As it always happens whenever we get a member with us, all the appointments cancelled, but luckily the member was pretty cool about it. Wednesday........... We did service for a place called the hope center. It's a lot like the DI in Utah, just not LDS. Maybe we'll get it baptized one day. If only it was in the time of Noah again. I got sick with a pretty good cold that day, but we had appointments all day already, so we endured and went to them. Our catholic priest we are teaching, Michael is his name, is finally starting to connect some dots! It's awesome! Before, he was creating a hybrid religion. Protestantism, Catholic, and LDS. (don't know how he did all three of those mixed, but somehow he has.) He said he was going to use the Book of Mormon in his Parishes (I think that's what it's called). Reminds me of "How Rare a Possession". By the way, that's a good church show. I recommend it! Hmm, Thursday we went and raked a guys yard. It was rather foggy that day, and everything was wet because of that. A good sick day to be sick, but we still worked. We were raking a yard after being armed with a members rake, we went to someones house that good use a good raking and we started raking. As we were, the guy that lives there pulled up and thanked us, we shared with him that we go around praying with people, and he said he would love that, and that we should pray for his wife because she has stage four cancer. He went inside, came back out, and said his wife could use a prayer right now. We went inside, told them about an anointed blessing, and she said that would be fine. It was the one day I forgot my oil at our apartment, so we consecrated some right in front of them, and gave her a blessing! It was amazing! We told them we have a message to share about Christ and they welcomed us back whenever, but that they would be going in and out of Tulsa for cancer treatments, so if they're home, we're invited in. It was amazing! Then, Friday, the sisters referred a person in our area to us, and we had a combined lesson. It was amazing. Shaday was the lady we taught. She accepted a baptism date, and she came to church on Sunday with her family! So amazing!!!! We also got a random call from someone named Chris (who we don't know) that wants to get baptized, and we have an appointment with him tonight! We'll see how that goes! Saturday we raked more leaves, and Sunday we went to church. People here like leaves raked, especially in Edmond, as it has a lot of trees everywhere. And a lot of hills! Weeeelp! I love you all! That's awesome Lizzie got her mission call! I gotta go

Happy Thanksgiving

Turkey Trot

Well, the week of Thanksgiving was wonderful even though I feel 4 pounds heavier :)

So, Thursday morning we were able to do a turkey trot. It's a 5k run! I think it's so people feel less guilty when they stuff themselves as much as they possibly can. I certainly felt that way! So, the 5k, it was an awful cold morning! I unfortunately did not plan on that, so I wore shorts and a t shirt, and later realized my mistake! It was a good run, even though I could feel that 10 extra pounds that I had packed on! The Thanksgiving day was crazy! We went over to someones house expecting about 10 people, and there were about 40 people all eating!

The next day the sisters in our ward had a wonderful baptism. Michael, our investigator was able to come, and the whole time he kept yelling out AMEN! Gotta love it! :)

Teaching my Comp how to play Tennis (By osmosis)