Monday, April 29, 2013



Week Four in Napa, I am so Lucky to be here.

Family and Friends,

Words can't express the kind of life I have here: Always focusing on others and always on my knees in prayer- Everyday humbling myself and trying to push past my imperfections to become that which the Lord has in store for me to be. As I travel this path I can see the Windows of Heaven opening up into my life and I am truly blessed. I am becoming who I want to be.

First, I AM SO EXCITED FOR JOSEPH'S MISSION CALL! SALT LAKE CITY SOUTH! I know with everything in me that each call is called by God and that there are people there waiting for my AMAZING brother's example. Even though I am far away his example in my life radiates and I can't wait for others to feel that and be blessed.

The past couple weeks we have been super bummed that none of our investigators come to church. We have been praying and trying so hard this week to be obedient and work hard, and A MIRACLE happened. We had 3 of our investigators at church! Lucillo, Angela, and Jesus all were able to make it. I sat with Lucillo and Angela (they are a couple) during the sacrament meeting and he was so excited about the Book of Mormon and he kept telling me he felt really good all day. I know they felt the spirit. I know the Lord has prepared them to receive blessings through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I see the happiness that I feel from the gospel enter the lives of others and it is truly wonderful.

This week we also had a Sister's Conference and I learned a TON:  A lot about my purpose in this life and how everything that I am doing now so so important. This is a marvelous work; I am stoked to be a part of it. Also, I participated in my first "exchange" and left my companion for a day and went with Sister Thomas to an English speaking area. We taught a lesson with one of her Investigators and he was a man with a big heart truly seeking to change and do the will of God… A powerful lesson. His friend, a member, was there to help us teach. The role of members is HUGE in helping people feel comfortable in learning the gospel.

I LOVE YOU ALL! I love being a missionary. I am praying for you all.

- Hermana Wise

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

week #3


Family & Friends,
This week was full of surprises. High high's and low low's, but I ended with a smile on my face.
This work is not easy. Our Investigators are struggling to progress. Marcos wants to change but is struggling with drugs still. We're trying our hardest to help him overcome it, but he has to do his part. We are constantly on our knees in prayer for the people here in Napa. Helping them makes the changes they want to make, teaching them what they must do to improve, and loving them through the journey.

This week we unfortunately had a lot of our teaching appointments fall through because people couldn't meet with us, so we did a lot more tracting (door to door) and contacting than we have been before. It is truly a humbling experience to have people door after door tell you that you are wrong and they are right and try to argue. That is not what we're here to do and we avoid that. We explain that we are simply there to invite and help other to come unto Christ. To bring them a message and gospel that has brought a lasting/enduring happiness into our lives. I am starting to understand a sliver of the persecution that apostles and prophets of old had to endure. Our Savior Jesus Christ was a despised and rejected of men, a man acquainted with grief. I am honored to defend his name each day as his Servant. This is an opportunity I am so thankful for. We maintain our positive attitude through the days, praying continuously all through the day that we may be able to help others. And then, MIRACLES HAPPEN.
After a hard days work with hardly any success, we were getting ready to go home and a man on the street stopped us and asked us if we were teaching religion. We said we were servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and we help other's come unto him. He had a very positive attitude towards missionaries and invited us to teach him and his wife the following day. That following day we visited them and taught them the Restoration, and then explained how they can know for themselves it is true through reading the Book of Mormon and praying. And when they know for themselves that what we taught was true and the Gospel really has been restored, I invited them to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, and they ACCEPTED. My first time inviting someone to be baptized and them actually say yes without my companion having to re-explain! I am so excited to teach them, I hope they are as solid as I think they could be. They are humble and ready to change. Qualities that each of us need to cultivate in order to truly be converted and willing follow our Savior. Truly a miracle!

My Spanish is improving and we are working everyday to iron out our flaws in teaching and constantly making changes to improve ourselves. The spirit is more apparent than every before in my life and I know that is because I am in the right place striving to do what the Lord expects and act in every moment the spirit prompts. We are in no way perfect, but I am not letting myself go a day without analyzing my areas of weakness and trying to improve each day. I love being a missionary. I wouldn't trade it for anything. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It has brought me the kind of happiness that endures forever. A joy that word's cannot explain. A confidence in myself and in my Savior that this life I live each day really means a lot. Everything I do makes a difference, and knowing that means everything to me. I can't wait for this week ahead, so many miracles I have yet to discover in this journey.

Thank you all for the support I receive, continue to write and email me. I am SO excited for Joseph this week to get his Mission Call! Please write me and email me about it ASAP.
Hermana Christina Wise

Friday, April 19, 2013

Week 2 Miracles happen all day, every day!





Familia y Amigos,
This week was amazing. Truly. We had a ton more success than last week and we worked way hard. As of right now we have a total for 14 investigators, so we are pretty busy all day long, appointments all the time. There are all kinds of people here and I am getting a hang of the social dynamics of Latino culture, or at least trying. Understanding native speakers is improving a ton everyday. I can understand most people we speak to and people I could barely understand a week ago, I can now understand with way more clarity and carry on a conversation. I sometimes get really frustrated with myself because everything is so foreign and I have a hard time letting the real me shine and help these people, but that gets better with each day.
The investigators we have and the less active members we visit are all so welcoming and nice. We are taken well care of by the members here and everyone is really close in the LDS Spanish community. We cover a huge area, part of napa and then all of three other towns, we can only visit the other towns every other week though because we have to save our miles.
I attended my first Zone Conference this week. I absolutely love our leaders. They motivate me to push myself past what I have always pushed and to give more and more each day. I made a comment about the two questions and people were impressed with my answers to questions and the boldness I have, even as a new missionary, to make comments and contribute to discussion. I love talking about and doing missionary work. I get home from a day of work and plop on my bed in exhaustion. It drains me emotionally, physically, and definitely spiritually. But I have a huge smile on my face because I know I am working hard.
Friday was a MIRACLE. The best day of my mission yet. We went to visit Marcos and he seemed so healthy and happy. He really took our lesson to heart and is working hard to keep the word of wisdom and were working on getting him to the rehab program at the church. We can tell his progress, and he has been blessed with more work! When we keep the commandments, our Father in Heaven blesses us. I know that's true for him. After the lesson he was teaching his Mom how to pray and it was just amazing to see him apply what we have taught. After that, we visited Atonia Flores, an Investigator we have who has some problems speaking and is in a wheelchair. Even if she was speaking English I don't think I could understand her very well, but we invited her to be baptized and she accepted! Now we just have to work thorough getting her to church, which will be hard with her situation, but were going to try. After that we visited with potentials, and we ended the day with THREE new investigators! Two of them are husband and wife and seem super interested in our message. I am so excited to teach them so they can have an eternal family someday with their little son. The Lord has poured out so many blessings and I wish everyday would be like friday. So happy.
Yesterday was fast sunday and I bore my testimony in spanish with the branch. They actually tell me my spanish is great, but I am not so sure. We had this amazing opportunity to, as a mission, do an hour of prayer from 4pm - 5pm. I have never prayed for an hour before so I thought I would run out of things to pray for. At first it was a little slow but then I had 5 minutes left and I was scrambling to get more in. I have so much to be thankful for and so many people that I care about to pray for.
Also, today for P-day Hermana Chavez and I went to SAN FRANSISCO! She had an important appointment and one of the Elderly Missionary Couples drove us down. My first time ever and I loved it :) Took some cool pictures.

Thank you all for all you have done for me, you are in my prayers.
- Hermana Wise

Monday, April 8, 2013

First Letter and Pics from the Field... Napa, California








Hola Familia y Amigos!
Tengo mucho suerte con todos esta semana. Yo se que Dios me ama mucho porque el me da una companera y area perfecta para mi.
I don't even know if I can explain how many feelings I felt this week. Mom, Dad, Joseph, Brett, Rehya, It was so nice to talk to you all on the phone and hear your voices. It gave me just what I needed before going to California.
After arriving, I received one of the warmest welcomes I have ever had. President and Sister Alba are some of the most outstanding people that I have know and I could tell that in no time at all. After arriving, we drove an hour and a half from the airport and I got to be in the front seat. Our driver was a Senior Missionary who knew the area because he lived there before his mission. He explained the mission to me and the cool parts of each city. It is SO beautiful. Vineyards and beautiful trees everywhere. It's green like Indiana and has mountains like Utah. I really get to enjoy the best of both worlds. I got to know some of the other missionaries arriving with me. We stayed in a hotel that night and did a activity helping us get a feel of how to teach. The next afternoon we received our trainers/companions.
I got assigned to serve with Hermana Chavez! I was hoping I would get called to serve with her. She is from Mexico but has lived in the united states for about 8 years. Her English is basically perfect but thankfully her Spanish is more perfect therefore able to help me learn faster! She is one of the nicest people I have met. She is always in a good mood and always looking for ways to love others. She has amazing ability to make people feel comfortable around her and I have felt that for myself and have watched others react when they are around her. We work so well together, we speak Spanish basically 24/7, and I am learning a ton. We were called to serve in Napa! I am excited because it is one of the most beautiful and fulfilling areas and apparently has a lot of potential. There are a lot of Latinos here for us to teach. Also, I am the driver. The first day they gave me the keys and I was put to work. Elder Foster from my District in the MTC is in my same branch and I see him everyday when we all go eat at member's home for dinner. Also Elder Vance, Madeline's older brother is one of the Assistants to the President. It's nice to see familiar faces.
At first I honestly felt so overwhelmed. I was driving a new car, in a new place, with a stranger, attempting to speak in a new language. Over the days though, it has become familiar. The very first day, I helped teach an investigator, Jesus Medina, about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was so difficult to understand him, partly because he is quiet, partly because I'm still learning, and partly because we were teaching from his porch and cars were zooming past us every other second. He has a baptismal date but also has much to learn. I did my best to ask questions and made sure to bear a solid testimony and the spirit was undoubtedly there.
The next day we taught another Investigator, Marcos. He has been being taught for a little while now but has had some troubles with the Word of Wisdom. My companion taught most of the lesson but I bore a strong testimony and explained some things to his sister who speaks English more than Spanish. His mom was there too and has been listening to all his lessons. At the end of the lesson, both Marcos and his mom agreed to prepare to be baptized! Marcos has committed to it before but every time couldn't seem to accomplish his goal. We know he can do it, we have faith! He is really trying to turn his life around and we want to help him not to be addicted. Both Jesus and Marcos came to General Conference this Sunday! It was different watching the Spanish translation of it, but I could basically understand everything. Everyday it is getting much easier to understand what people are saying, most of the time I get about 90% of what's being said.
This first week has been super busy. We have a Mission Goal of 10-3-1. It means 10 contacts (talk to ten people in the street), 3 lessons, and 1 baptismal invitation each day. We haven't been doing a very good job with it because were inside a lot for studies, weekly planning, zone meeting, transfer meeting, branch activity that we planned, and General Conference. This week were rededicating ourselves to accomplish this better. At first I was scared to talk to people but the spirit has pushed that fear away and I merely act when I know I need to, or at least I am trying. I am doing my best to be exactly obedient to mission rules and as I have been I see blessings.
Teaching is getting there. I am not able to say everything I want but Its improving. When I bear testimony the spirit overcomes me and I am given what to say. Its amazing to see how the Lord works through me as I am dedicating myself to his work. The other day after teaching a man he said he didn't really have time to read the Book of Mormon. The spirit truly compelled me to testify how the gospel contained in that book has truly changed my life and testified that is can change his. I explained how important it is to me and that is why we invited him to read it, because it is so precious and contained the very gospel off which I base my life. (What I said was more simple obviously). The language of the spirit speaks more than can be said in Spanish, English, or any spoken language. By bringing the spirit with us to lessons, it softens hearts and changed lives. I can see that. It is motivating. It helps me everyday to get up and study and work hard, because I truly love the Lord. I am his tool to carry out that which he wants me to do. I am blessed beyond comprehension. I am growing into someone I never thought I could be. My mission is surely going to fly by and I don't want to waste a second of it. Thank you to all who have helped me get here. In life, on my mission, all of it. I am so blessed.
Les Quiero mucho,
Hermana Wise
 
 

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Happy Easter



Happy Easter Everyone!
 
Today is my last day in the MTC and I have been scrambling to get everything done that I need to. Yesterday we have the wonderful opportunity to have an MTC-wide sacrament meeting, something that has never been done before. The sacrament was passed to over 3000 missionaries. They compared it to when Jesus miraculously fed thousands during his ministry. This too is a miracle that we have so many missionaries. The numbers are supposed to increase to 7000 by the end of the summer. So amazing to be apart of all of this amazing work.
 
I've had a lot of time to focus on my Savior Jesus Christ and his Atonement. He lives. I know it. I have felt his very real presence every day bearing me up and carrying me through the rough and wonderful times. Because of him and his gospel I am here and the happiest I have been in years. I love serving others and giving back some of the love he has provided me with each day.
 
Oh by the way, it was announced that we can now email family AND FRIENDS. So let people know if they want to contact me. At least Sam and my other close friends. Give them my email address. I love you all!!! Can't wait to call you tomorrow.
 
Yo se que el evangelio de Jesucristo tiene la plentitud del verdad. Yo se que Jesucristo es mi Salvador, mi Hermano mayor, y mi Redentor. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un profeta verdadero. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios. Quiero compartir este testimonio con todos las personas en Santa Rosa. Estoy muy agradecido por ustedes, mi familia y amigos. Ustedes son ejemplos para mi cada dia. ¡Les amo mucho!
 
- Hermana Wise