Elder Kevin Wadman: September 24, 2014 #1

[Note: items in blue brackets have been added for clarification]

I'm leaving early, but not THAT early! I'm leaving Sunday night at 8 and I should be in Xalapa about 4pm on Monday. I'm the first person to leave from the district, and only one other elder in the MTC [Missionary Training Center] is going to Xalapa with me, but I'm not leaving until then. I took some pictures of all sorts of stuff though! A lot of it is stuff we prepped for lessons either for the district or for investigators. Then there's some with our travel plans, and then one of another district in our zone in front of the Provo temple, which is a little oddly shaped but still very pretty.

M. Russell Ballard spoke last night, so we kinda lucked out with the double duty with the apostles and everything. He talked about how when he was a missionary he thought he understood the gospel well enough, but he really didn't. That's a wake up call if I ever heard one!

Kate, if you're reading this blog, which you should be, I saw Mckenna Thorpe the other day, she arrived last week and I saw her at the Ogden Temple Dedication we got to watch from main campus on Sunday.

Elder Seely and I slayed the 60 lessons in three weeks goal here, we're sitting on 68 right now and gunning to make 80 before we get sent out to the field. We've learned a lot about connecting with people and making these lessons purposeful.

I'll give you a bit more of a full summary of my week a little later today, I have about 4 minutes left in my half hour before I go off to the temple and everything though, so I'll have to tell you about the rest a little later.

I just want to say that I've felt the spirit so strongly here, and I know that what I'm teaching is true. One of our "investigators" stays in touch with the missionaries who teach her at the MTC, and she showed us a picture of a missionary who left 4 weeks ago standing with a family of 7 all in white baptismal clothes. I don't need a big number or any number, I'm just so excited to be doing God's work and helping people to make choices that will give them better lives and more joy.

By the way, the last mail I will get comes in saturday at about 2, so anything you try to send after that will either be forwarded or never arrive to me. Not sure which.

Love you guys!

Elder Wadman