8/25 Letters

We got an e-mail and a letter from Daniel on Monday. He seems to be doing very well. Here are some highlights from those letters.

Sister Smith (a senior missionary who works in the mission office) said that you got kicked out of the bike shop the other day. (Long story about us trying to get a bike to Daniel - the right bike. Still working on that. Lets just say the owner and I had some words and I am no longer welcome in his store.) That is crazy. I want to know the story behind that, you getting kicked out of some place - that is funny, really funny. So, Derek is in Georgia. That is carzy. So, how is Darcy doing? What is going on with her and what is going on with mom? Oh, thank you for the conference talks and the hymns on CD. I really like them. Did I tell you that we just got a new bishop last week? He is a really cool guy. Well my new comp is Elder Russell. (They had transfers last week and Daniel's first companion's time was up on his mission so he went home. Daniel stayed in Waynesboro and got a new companion.) He is a really nice guy. I got us lost driving in Harrisburg and he got mad at me. I just laughed and laughed. Oh, happy 60th birthday (what! I am not 60 yet). It was on the 24th, right? Just think, I will only be gone for one more of your birthdays. That is a really cool thought. We are going to be have baptisim on Sept. 20 for sure and I hope we will be having one on the 13th, too, but I don't know if that one will be happening then. Well, thanks for everything.
Love, Elder Wesley

e-mail from 8/11/08

Hey,
I will be in Harrisburg next Monday getting a new companion. So, if I have not gotten a bike I can just go ahead and get one there. We got referred to this couple. They are golden. We have 5 or 6 investigators. Some how we just stumble into them. You know what is really cool, it is to have the conference talks on CD. You can get them at the bookstore. My comp has a lot of them and we listen to them a lot of the time, but he will be taking them with him when he leaves. We are teaching and doing really well. We had a zone cofference last week and they said we should be in PEC meetings so we will start doing that. Well, I love you and I still have more people to e-mail. Love Elder Wesley

Pictures 8/8/08

We received a disk from Daniel today with pictures he has taken since we left him at the MTC. We do not have any explanation with the pictures. Follow are a few of these pictures.

Pointing to his apartment in Waynesboro

A hungry missionary!

At battlefield in Gettysburg on P-day

Pennsylvania countryside

Letter 7/28/08

Mom-
You need to read Miracles of Faith by Thomas Monson. It is such a good talk. I found ti n the July 2004 Ensign. This is a quote I took from it: "It is imperative that we recognize that whatever has happened to us has happened to others. They have coped and so must we. We are not alone. Heavenly Father's help is near." I told my comp about it and he didn't seem that impressed, but I really like it. I think it gives people comfort and helps us get over the trials of life. Well, I really haven't been doing anything to exciting. We are teaching a few people. It is so cool to watch them change their lives as they learn more about the gospel and they feel the Holy Ghost in their lives. Tomorrow I am going to a new missionary lunch in Harrisburg so that will be fun being able to see all my friends from the MTC. Well, love you. Elder Wesley

8/04/08 E-mail

FYI mail eveything through usps so they can forword it to me at my apartment. You can go to the post office and ask for a flat rate box and they will give you one and you can fill it up. Its like 9 bucks to mail and those will get to me faster then anything else. If you use dhl or ups I have to wait for zone conference or interviews and they come once a transfer and a transfer is 6 weeks. Can I get a little hymn book and an oil contaner like the one I had on my key chain? That would be nice and anything else you think I would like. I really don't need any snack stuff because I can go to Wal-mart and get what I want. Today I went to Gettysburg all day so I don't have much time to email because we just got back. It was way cool. I'm going to go back next transfer and see more stuff. I took pictures and some videos so you can see those when you get that memory card. I don't know about the bike. I will find out when I go to Harrisbrug for zone conference on Thursday, but you can call the mission office and ask them and find out. When i get off my mission we will have to go to Gettysburg. It is so cool there. I got see to just a little bit. It is nice that you and mom got to get away for a few days. Well, the investagators are really nice and coming along really well. I am glad to hear you fed the missionaries. That is really nice. Offer to give them rides to there appointments and stuff they need to do and give them bags of food to take home, that is nice too. I need the good karma. Well, love ya and sorry this email is so short. I will write you tonight and tell you more about what is going on. Love you lots, Elder Wesley

7/28/08 e-mail

So, we are teaching three people right now. One is a lady and her granddaughter. She wants to get baptized so that is really cool. We are also teaching a guy named Joey. He is really wanting to learn more. We started teaching him the second day I got here, I think, and he is doing really well, he just doesn't come to church. Its making me mad. Its because he works nights and he has Saturday night off, so thats not a problem, but he just doesn't want to wake up and then not be able to go back to sleep in the afternoon to go to work that night. So we are trying to get him to go to church. We haven't been tracting that much, we don't have enough time, but we will start taking more time soon because we need so more investagators. We are also trying to teach this girl in her 20's who has, I think, 3 or 4 kids, but she wants to know more. She just never has time to meet with us. We were going to see her today but then her grandpa died and so we are going to see her on Friday. Now stuff like that just keeps happening and it makes me mad. So thats why we need to find more people. So, I hear you got a new dog hahaha. I didn't think you would get a new one. Have you been able to study chapter 6 of Pearch My Gospel. That is such a good chapter. I always look at it if I'm having a bad day. Well, I have to go do stuff for p-day and call and see if they have a bike for me. I love you all, Elder Wesley

7/21/08 E-mail

We received another e-mail from Daniel today. Last week it came before noon so we started getting anxious about noon today looking for it. It did not come until about 1:30; seemed like forever....
Here is a summary of what he had to say:
I still haven't got a bike. I called the office right before I wrote you to ask if they got it yet and they said no. So, I will mail you the reciept so you can take care of it because Iwould really like one so we don't have to put so many miles on the car. We are teaching an 18 year old girl who knows she wants to get baptized, she just doesn't know when. We are also teaching this one guy who really likes what we are teaching him, but just doesn't seem to be willing to go to church. I think there are about 140 people who go to church every week (in the Fairview Ward where he goes). There are a ton of inactives here in PA. If everyone was active we would have at least one more ward, if not two. Well there was a talk that Elder Holland gave and I wanted mom to read, but I forgot to write it down so I hope to tell you next week. Its just me and Elder Hoxer in this ward. We get feed about every night. Well, last week I went to Gettysburg for a few hours and I did stuff with one of the elders from there and that is such a cool place. We have to go there for the 4th of July. I know the day I will get home - June 21, 2010, just to let you know. So I guess I will be gone for more than two years - hahaha. Well, they are telling me I have to get off but i love you lots.
Elder Wesley